Inner Demon
by WS.Blue
Summary: Twelve years ago, a great and powerful demon attacked Konohagakure, and was defeated and sealed by the fourth Hokage into the body of Haruno Sakura.
1. Yondaime

I started Inner Demon on the 13th of March, 2004, long before many finer details were revealed in the manga or anime, because of that, I have to fill in the gaps with my own creations. Taking the organisation Akatsuki for an example, in the manga, there were ten members before Orochimaru's defection, while in my story, Akatsuki consists of nine core 'numbered' members (including Orochimaru) and a few 'unnumbered' members who served as their partners or assistants. Sakura's and Naruto's parents and powers are vastly different from the original, changes are also done on the other 12yo kids to boost their abilities, most noticeable is Tenten who only had **one** panel in the manga during her fight in the Chuunin exam.

The story is divided into two Parts, each Part has a few Acts, each Act consists of one Interlude and a few Chapters. At the end of each Chapter, you may find mini Glossary sections and whatever information I think would be helpful. Also there are Parodies, which are discarded ideas which I found to be too comical.

Disclaimer: There will be death to both my OCs and canon characters. Romance/Pairing is subtitle, there's no sex. And I'm not English native, and use GB English.

**Prologue: Yondaime  
**Updated on: 24 August, 2007

* * *

**"Fuuinjutsu Shiki Fuujin (#1 – read the Glossary at the bottom of the page) eh? Kid, I have always known that you are crazy, but this… Do you understand what consequences your action will bring?"**

Yondaime remained an unusual silent between himself and Gama Bunta, his old friend, mentor, and companion. Under normal circumstances, the young man would be seen rebuking back at the Boss Toad word for word, but today, he kept his peace, choosing instead to spend all efforts on the task ahead. His white and red Hokage coat fluttered in the strong wind caused by the brutish attacks from the fierce demon, each swing of the demon caused trees to be uprooted from the bloodied soil and Jounins to be blown away, thrown around like old worn toys. With their numbers diminishing and their defences waning, there was no time considering for a second option.

**"I'm talking to you, boy! Answer me! Is this the only way-"**

"Boss," he shouted back, not that there was a need to, the old toad could hear him perfectly at where the young man stood. Standing on the ancient summon's head with chakra enforcing his footing, yelling at the heat of the battle was how his life had always been, full of enthusiasm and energy, one could almost feel the life and vigour in his words. The young Hokage had his fair share of ups and downs, joys and desperations, but even as he knew his life was coming to an end, he had no regrets. Gama Bunta already knew that Yondaime would not accept any other suggestions at this point of time. "I very well know what will happen, the child that I need to seal the demon in will face a harsh life, to be treated as a substitute for the demon, to be hatred, to be the object of anger for all who will survive this battle today. But there's-"

**"Boy! I'm talking about you! You are going to die! Wa- Wait a second! You are going to seal the demon within a child?! Are you losing your mind already?!"**

"For the container to survive the sealing, it must be a child, someone young enough to not have a solid foundation of chakra yet. The jutsu will have to be modified to suit the requirement of this sealing, I will need to have both the chakra of the child and the demon to co-exist, or else it will be futile to even try-"

**"Who do you have in mind...?"**

There was no time for answer, the demon had finally took notice of the two of them, the powerful chakra aura radiated from the Hokage in preparation of the jutsu was fearsome, it drove her mad, but all she could think of was to devour him, and consume his seemingly never-ending chakra. Charging in, the demon chose to ignore the pitiful attacks by other Jounins and their summoned creatures, and instead preparing to pounce right onto Gama Bunta.

**"Here she comes!"**

Gama Bunta braced for impact, drawing his katana out, he prepared to jump as well. The timing had to be precise, to leap off when the demon almost land back on her feet. As Gama Bunta had just arrived upon the battlefield, he had no time to fully flesh out his strategy (if any at all), for now, all he could do was to keep him safe until his preparation for the forbidden jutsu to be completed. He knew that for the casting to be a success, he would need to bring Yondaime close, a lot closer than they were now, most would say too close for comfort.

"Let's do it, Gama Bunta!"

The young Hokage crouched down to create a lower centre of gravity while using chakra to cling onto the ancient toad, he focused both hands into forming a series of complex jutsu formation. Halfway through, Gama Bunta sprang without warning, causing him to almost slip off the surface, worse still, his jutsu was interrupted.

He quickly resume the jutsu formation while continued to struggle to get a stable foothold. To escape from the attack of the demon, Gama Bunta had jumped to an impressive height, almost reaching the clouds. Nevertheless, the demon did not let down on her attacks, following the Boss Toad, she pushed herself upwards, claws and fangs wide opened.

**"Incoming!"** Gama Bunta shouted.

It would be hard to dodge an aerial assault, but the same could be applying to the demon as well. Now was the chance for the Hokage to get really up-close and personal. Directly below them was the demon, still heading upwards as the two of them began to fall, drawn by gravity. Without much less a prayer, Yondaime leapt off from the back of Gama Bunta, and quickly finalised the last few steps of the jutsu with double effort while keeping his legs in close together to accelerate the fall.

Seeing the little man falling towards herself, the demon waved her gigantic claws at him. Even with the jutsu underway, Yondaime dodged the attacks by releasing gentle flow of chakra from his body, diverting from all attempts to shove him away. Just when the two of them were at their closest, the eyes met, an unfamiliar feeling came upon them. Gama Bunta threw his katana at her, followed by a small stream of fire. The flames did no harm to the demon, but that was not the purpose of the attack. As the demon shielded her eyes from the blinding flame, Yondaime landed hard onto her left shoulder, rolling a bit, almost nearly falling off the edge.

Still keeping the hand formations in order, he yelled out the attack, using his voice to summon the forbidden jutsu, "Fuuinjutsu Shiki Fuujin!" Uncovering her eyes, the demon panned her head, staring down on the human, the two of them were so close that it would seem that their thoughts could be shared.

It felt like a void, a great emptiness that appeared right before her, a presence that overwhelmed her, a fear of death was upon her. Unseen to all eyes but theirs, a Shinigami materialised behind the Hokage, dagger in his fanged mouth, hands fanned out by his side with razor sharp claws on both his hands. Yondaime reached out the flat of his palms, and placed them onto both sides of her chin.

**_"I sense Death? Am I going to die?"_**

It was right in front of her, a small but powerful presence lusting after their souls.

Still in mid-air, the demon tried to shove the little man away from her shoulder, but found that she could no longer move. Not able to even turn her head away from her fear, she was forced to come face-to-face with both the only man who dared to come this close to her, and the death that would soon overcome the two of them.

Already falling past the lighter demon, Gama Bunta looked upwards to see the falling demon with the Hokage on her shoulder. Noticing the demon's movements being petrified, the older toad realised that the jutsu was already working its way into the demon's body.

The demon finally reached the highest peak of her jump, piercing the clouds, but eventually, the momentum slowed down, leaving her hanging among the clouds the both of them were in. However, it was not long before the body started to turn headfirst down, spinning downwards in a spiral pattern, accelerating the fall once again with Yondaime keeping his foothold with his chakra.

Step-by-step, the young man took a step back at a time, his hands parting from the demon's flesh, drawing her soul from the body. There was an unnatural calmness between the two of them, even with their deaths approaching so fast, they felt no fear.

Back on the ground, Gama Bunta landed as gracefully as a gigantic toad possibly could without causing too much of the Jounins standing around the landing site. His eyes were still on the falling demon above him, even as the shadow given off by the demon started to grow larger on the ground under, Gama Bunta understood his duty. Unlike Gama Bunta, she would not be able to land properly like he did but would instead crash like a mountain. The impact from the demon could very well cause a tremor that would wipe out half of the village.

Jounins nearby were given the order to flee from the scene by Sarutobi-sensei. As he watched the falling demon, he called out one of his Jounins to pass him the infant he had earlier prepared for, while he leapt on ahead towards the soon-to-be crash site. From tree to tree, he raced against time to arrive there in time, should the Fourth failed to survive the fall, he would need to be there to take over the duty to finish off the sealing.

Back in the sky, though falling and spinning at an astonishing speed, the blond Yondaime was still standing firm, standing now several feet away from when he first started out. Struggling to take a step at a time backwards, he continued to drag the soul out with the help of the Shinigami behind him, who had his hand in him, grabbing hold of his soul. He opened his eyes, he gave a one last look at the demon before him, the souls had almost come out fully from their bodies, and the demon was still staring at him. Giving his last words in soft whispers, which even the demon could not have possibly heard it, "Live well in your new life." And with his last breath, an apology to the baby he damned.

The moment the soul of the demon detached from her body, the Fourth Hokage of Konohagakure fell off the shoulder of the demon as the Shinigami behind him started to dematerialise. The soul of the demon was now compressed to the size of small sphere, held firmly by the hands of Yondaime, before losing his soul, he managed to curved himself up into a tight ball, keeping the soul sphere close to his chest, protecting it.

The demonic flesh crumpled at the lost of her essence. Gama Bunta eyed the sky as the demon's body dissolved into fine dusts, keeping track of the falling Hokage. With his size, Gama Bunta did not have any difficulty catching the Hokage with his soft tongue, but what he feared came true, the little human did not move nor jerk even with the harsh landing, though something shiny was embrace close to his chest. The huge toad, master of his kind, felt so helpless, remaining silent while waiting for the arrival of the Third, with the sleeping baby in his arms.

**x**

Once appeared a powerful humanoid demon, one swing of her arm could crumble mountains and cause tsunamis. To fight the demon, the people assembled the shinobi, one brave shinobi was able to seal up the demon at the cost of his life. The shinobi was called the Fourth Hokage also known as Yondaime. The Fourth sealed the demon into the belly button of the only newly born infant on that day, a pink haired girl of the Haruno clan. Thus begun the adventure of Haruno Sakura of becoming a shinobi, with the secret of the 'Inner Sakura' sealed within her known only to the adults of Konohagakure.

The people of Konohagakure rebuilt their lives and lived on, with one eye closed as to why their Hokage had to fight his battle without his companions, and other eye closed as to the growing menace outside their safe village.

* * *

**- Glossary -**

**#1 :: Fuuinjutsu Shiki Fuujin (Demon Soul Seal) **– A forbidden sealing technique that will summon the Shinigami, God of Death, to seal the target's soul along within the Shinigami's body for eternity. However, Yondaime was able to modify the jutsu to put the target's soul into a container instead.


	2. Uzumaki Naruto

**Act 1: The Calm before the Storm  
Chapter 2: Uzumaki Naruto**  
Updated on: 3 October, 2010

* * *

"Is this what you want?" the Hokage questioned one last time, along with an obvious tone of irritation.

As if the blond boy could not detect the type of tone used, he replied light-heartedly, "Hell yeah! It took me forever to come up with a good face! It took me three hours to get that pose right!" Immediately standing up from his chair, and repositioned himself to pose in the same posture as in the photograph.

Sarutobi Hiruzen looked up from the Shinobi Registration form in his hand, resisting the urge not to tear the piece of paper, and get it over with. On the form was the photograph of Naruto, striking a pose with his right palm up front, with kabuki face paint.

"It's pretty artistic, eh?!" Laughing proudly, while scratching the back of his head with his hand, it took Naruto a while to notice the cold stare from Sandaime. "What?!"

"Retake the photo. This Shinobi Registration book lists all those in the village with high ability, this will be an important document for you, yet… What's with the face?!"

"_God knows what he learnt from his journey with Jiraiya, it was a mistake, what kind of training trip did that Jiraiya has with Naruto?"_

Noticing that the Hokage seems to be staring at blank space, Naruto attempted a stealthy escape, only to be halted swiftly by the elder shinobi.

"Not so fast, Naruto-_kun_. I'm not done with you yet."

"_Definitely a mistake, I need to have a long talk with Jiraiya."_

Letting out a dry cough, Sarutobi continued, "Why don't you want to take this seriously, Naruto?"

Naruto got back to his seat, squishing his eyes shut, as if that would help him to think up of a creative answer to satisfy the old geezer. "It has been a long time since we left this village, four years hasn't it, Hokage-sama?" Sarutobi could sense the change of atmosphere in here, Naruto had returned to his original serious self. Mentally, he was glad that the old Naruto was back. "And you know, most people have already forgotten about me, the son of the _greatest_ Hokage, might as well let it be. In the past, I have to be this, I have to be that, just because people expected the best out of the son of the _greatest_ Hokage ever. Oops, no offence intended, Hokage-sama. But now, I can live as I wanted to, four years is enough to make most people forget about me, I no longer need to look upon every actions just because I'm a role model for the every other kids to look up to, no reason why I should make a fuss out of it once I return? There was an image I had to maintain four years ago, but now I'm just a regular Genin just returned home from a training trip."

The Hokage sighed. "_Fine_. Let it be then. Is that why you are enlisting using your mother's family name?" Seeing Naruto let out a wide grin, Sarutobi could only smile along. "But Uzumaki Naruto, the new Genin of Konohagakure _still_ has to retake his photograph."

"What?!" The sound of the defeat echoed throughout the room.

**x**

Two of the most powerful shinobi walked the corridor, the few Jounins and ANBU presented bowed to the Hokage in respect, all of them recognised the Hokage robe the older one was wearing, but few remembered the other, those who did, bowed equally deep. They did not wait until they arrived at their destination before started their conversation, the elder of the two spoke first.

"How has Naruto been these four years?"

"Four years are a bit too short to heal his wounds, he still feel great guilt and confusion, and maybe a bit of anger as well."

"He has not gotten over the incident yet? Or of Sakura?" A mere whisper, even a Hokage had to watch what he say around here, even in the village's main administrative building, a place guarded heavily with hidden ANBU. "And of the return?"

"He did not bear well with the return, he believes it is still too early, but I managed to convince him otherwise. I told him that he needed to be administrated into the Genin ranks, and start working on team assignments."

"He buys that lie?"

"Well, partly it's not a lie, I did plan for our return when he turns twelve regardless of the results of our trip. In addition, to answer your question, he did not, but he believed that he needed to train in teamwork as well. And also, I guess I could say that he got a bit tired of travelling."

"About this team you suggested… I thought about it, and agreed after looking through it. He was only eight years old then, but for a child to exhibit such anger against another… You and I now know that it was a mistake of us to let our guards down, to let him found out about the truth about his father's death, and Sakura, he was too young then, and he is still too young now. I honestly do not know exactly what is going on inside his mind… He still have not tell us who exposed Sakura's secret to him, but I believe it's time for him to learn and live with the fact that the girl will always be who she is, it's time for him to face her now."

"His mind is still clouded with anger, but I believe knowing her more might help his confusion to clear up a little bit more."

"So be it then, Uzumaki Naruto and Haruno Sakura shall form Team 7 together with a third member, and as per your request, Hatake Kakashi will be their instructor."

"Who do you have in mind for the third member?"

"There is another twelve years old out there whom I'm getting worry about, our experiences with Naruto proved that kids can do the wildest thing possible while left uncheck."

"Let me guess… Sasuke, Uchiha Sasuke."

**x**

"You, I challenge you to a duel!" The voice came from a young boy, standing on the same box that he was previously hiding in, a box with print designs of bricks on it, and two holes for the stealthy shinobi to peek at his prey.

Naruto quickly spun around to face his opponent, but his stance quickly melted from his battle stance to a more relaxing posture. _"Konohamaru? What is the grandson of the great Hokage-sama doing out here? Wearing a stupid outfit, and standing on a box?"_

"I saw you exiting the room with the Hokage! You must be someone great to walk side by side with that old man! Well?! I challenge you!"

"_That idiot forgot who I am! It has been four years after all, how old was he back then?"_

Once he regained his composure, he yelled, "Stupid! Have you really forgotten who I am?"

He had just left the building for not long, heading towards nowhere specifically, hopefully a ramen store nearby, and for the moment, Naruto almost thought that he could have some quiet moment for himself. There was a lot to think about, in fact, he was somewhat surprised he did not notice Konohamaru right away. Indeed he should be very surprised that he did not notice the moving box that was following him since he left Konohagakure's main governing building, the 'Hokage Tower' as termed by the locals… But he was glad in a way that Konohamaru found him, perhaps he had been thinking too much, he needed a break, coming back to Konohagakure was a lot more stressful than he thought would be, he knew that pervert-sensei of his had something planned for him, but he just did not know what yet.

"Huh? You are… Naruto-nii-chan! You returned!" The kid leapt up in excitement, crushing the box he was standing on in the process.

Without blinking an eye, he replied, "Come on, Konohamaru, show me the way to the nearest ramen place, my treat, we have a lot to catch up with!"

Forgotten all about the challenge, Konohamaru quickly grinned widely from one end of the face to the other, and led Naruto running off into the busy streets.

Nothing changed much around here (including Konohamaru) Naruto wondered what happened to Ebisu-sensei anyway, from what he gathered from other careless locals' conversations, the incident twelve years ago was still on the minds of many adults. Haruno Sakura was still a taboo topic, he was probably the only kid in the village who found out that the demon was not killed as per told to all children.

Upon arriving at the stall, which Konohamaru was constantly bragging about while dragging him here literally by his sleeves, he ordered a bowl for each of them, and the two settled down. The two of them started to exchange their questions, asking each other of one another. Naruto asked mainly of Konohamaru's grandfather, while Konohamaru asked mainly of his adventures he had during his trip. But it did not take long for him to finally get down to the point, Konohamaru asked why he left, a question that he had been holding up inside him for a very long time, not satisfied with the answer given by his grandfather.

"I left… because I was weak. And I wonder now, if I was worthy to judge back then." Konohamaru did not understand what was just been told to him, but maybe even Naruto could not fully apprehend what came out of his mouth. "_Am I to judge at all?"_


	3. Haruno Sakura, Four Years Ago

**Act 1: The Calm before the Storm  
Chapter 3: Haruno Sakura (Four Years Ago…)  
**Updated on: 3 October, 2010

* * *

_Four years ago…_

The boy sat on the tree branch waiting, swinging his legs in the process, he watched on the moving clouds with a simple smile. He wondered what it could be that Mizuki-sensei said was so important that they needed to meet so late in the night. The two of them seldom meet, since Mizuki-sensei was not involved in any of his classes.

The blond boy, son of the Fourth Hokage, was looked upon highly by everyone as the potential next candidate for the Hokage position, since young, he had the best training from the best trainers. Though young, he already showed promising signs that he might already had inherited his family's bloodline ability.

The soft footsteps announced to Naruto the arrival of Mizuki, he turned to face the smiling Mizuki.

"Good evening, Naruto-sama."

Naruto frowned, he did not like people calling him that, he did not like treating him different, even Ebisu-sensei had learned that, and simply called him 'Naruto-kun'.

"What do you want, Mizuki-sensei." Not a question, but a demand.

"After thinking through, I realised that you have the very right to know something that was previously left untold, especially to you. And I found it to be an urgent matter to bring this up to you, Naruto-sama."

Naruto winced.

"What is it?"

"Your father, the Fourth Hokage, he did not kill the so-called 'Konohagakure Demon'."

Naruto's face suddenly twisted with anger, taken back by what he heard, he frowned angrily and nearly fell backwards off the branch he was sitting on. "Nonsense!"

"Hear me, Naruto-sama."

Naruto was too disturbed to notice the slight smile on Mizuki's smile, by the time he looked up to face the academy teacher, Mizuki regained his dead-serious face.

"Speak," his voice cold and heavy, Mizuki could feel the doubt in his voice. He smiled mentally.

"Your father sealed the demon in an infant child eight years ago by using a forbidden jutsu."

"And if it is true, what is the purpose of telling me this?" Naruto jumped down from the tree branch, wielding out a kunai in the process.

Mizuki cautiously took a step back and continued, "No! Do not be mistaken, every adult know about the demon and that infant. All of us know the identity of that infant! I just feel that… you, as his son, one should…" Mizuki paused for a while, as if to think on what to say next. "You are the son of the Fourth Hokage, I strongly believe we should not have hidden this fact from you! All I wanted is to tell you the truth, that the demon is _hidden_ inside the body of one called Haruno Sakura!"

"No one did anything about it?" His voice strangely calmed, echoed in the cold winds, Naruto backed up to once again hide in the comfort of the shadows.

"No one dared."

And within the next week, a specific blond boy met the pink-haired girl for the first time.

**x**

Sakura picked herself up, and let out a soft yelp of pain as she touched her bleeding elbow, she took out her handkerchief, and quickly wrapped a few times around it. After checking to see if there were any other injures, and dusting off the dirt from her dress, she decided to continue.

However, Sakura suddenly stopped short on her track, something in a distance attracted her attention, across the fence was a boy staring at her with the coldest possible stares. His eyes were crystal blue, his hair golden and danced wildly to the winds.

The two of them stood there for a moment, before the boy left, saying nothing.

"_That stare, he has the same stare as the adults… He knows. He knows why I am hated in this village, why I am discriminated among all. He knows something that I need to know. I must find him."_

Living alone in a village hated by almost all adults was unkind to a eight years old girl, all these time, she had no finance problems, as all her fees and expenses were paid by the 'village orphan fund'. Still, she had to be thrifty, she did not like living on the expenses of others, not even if this 'fund' was pay by the 'generosity' of the citizens.

She continued on her way to meet her childhood friend, Ino.

**x**

Few cared about her, but she was glad of those who did, among those was the Hokage, who would donned simple village clothing to visit her during the evening, though his visits were very rare, he would share his experience of the world which she could not enjoyed herself without discrimination, he was like a grandfather she never had. Of the few teachers they had at the academy, Umino Iruka was one who could put behind any differences behind them (if any), he treated her best among all adults in the school, and was often the one who she would approach when she needed an adult to talk to. And the last, was also her only friend, Yamanaka Ino was the only one who protected her from the school bullies **(A/N: Volume 8, chapter 8, page 7)**, and gave her a ribbon for her to tie around her head, because she was too self-conscious about her forehead, something which everyone seemed to make fun of.

"What's wrong, Sakura? You seemed to be not yourself today, did I ask you out at the wrong moment? Were you busy?" Ino questioned, licking her ice-cream while waiting for an answer. "Your ice-cream is melting..."

"Huh?"

Ino pointed at her melting ice-cream in her hand, causing her hand to have this sticky feeling on it. It seemed that she was spacing out again, Sakura realised that she had not been paying attention of what Ino was saying all this time, a very bad habit of hers. Sakura sighed, followed by a smile.

Ino took a step forward, and turned around to face her friend, then she bended down to reach with her free hand, and held Sakura's ice-cream-coated hand in hers. Ino licked the melting ice cream off Sakura's hand, causing her to jerk back, resulting in a snicker from the mischievous Ino.

Sakura quickly recomposed herself, and responded with a nervous smile. "Oh! It's just that I met this boy-"

"Boy?! What's he like?" Ino questioned swiftly.

Surprised by the sudden over-reaction, "Well, his eyes have the nicest shade of blue… And he's a blond… He didn't smile or anything, and…"

"You sure his hair and eyes are not black?"

"Huh? What is with… No… He's a blond, why?"

Sticking her tongue out, Ino replied back, "Oh! No, nothing!" Ino said as she chuckled to herself.

Sakura did not bother to ask any further, seeing Ino was already in another daydream of hers.

"Did you hurt yourself again?" Ino asked unexpectedly.

"Huh?"

Ino pointed at her poorly bandaged elbow.

"Oh that… I-"

"How did you get that?"

"It's an accident, I-"

"Did someone bully you again?! Was it-"

"No! Please don't do anything rush, you always do so much for me already, this time, it really was a accident…"

"What accident? A brick wall ran up blindly and knocked you down?!" Sakura could see Ino was pissed, she always was whenever Sakura was bullied. "You know, Sakura? Sometimes, you are just too soft, and you never told Suzume-sensei **(A/N: Volume 8, chapter 8, page 4)** or Iruka-sensei anything about the bullies, though I pretty sure who did it… It's that girl, isn't it? Ami and her gang."

Realising that Sakura was not going to talk, Ino quickly finished up her ice-cream cone with one gulp, then after grabbing onto Sakura's hand, Ino quickly led her through the streets, saying only, "Come on! I'm going to show you a nice place that will sure cheer you up!"

They ran through the busy streets, avoiding crushing into the hordes of people doing their daily business, and arrived minutes after outside the gate of Konohagakure. They continued running, even as Sakura begged Ino to stop, and she did, but only when they arrived onto a field of flowers.

"Wh- What's this place?"

"Beautiful, isn't it? My brother brought me here the first time just a week ago, and the instance I arrived here, I thought that I wanted to show you this as well. To my parents, it's just a normal trip to teach me all about the flowers that grow around our village, but it's a brand new universe for me."

"Why… do you bring me here?"

"Flowers are nice by themselves, but they are the most beautiful when they are together with another kind of flowers. Don't you think so? Every flower has its place in this field, even the littlest of the buds have their place here… And I believe that you may one day find your place among the people as well, but until then, you will remain as a flower bud, and I will take care of you until you bloom."

**x**

The fire from the candle flickered, it was getting late, as Sakura finally decided to take a rest from reading, she gently rubbed the areas around her eyes with the base of her palms, and blindly walked towards the bed after blowing out the single light from the candle.

Her accommodation was rather simple, it has two stories like most other housing around the area. This building was left from her parents that died during the war some eight years ago, since then she had been living alone, and even the smallest of all buildings seemed huge, especially when you were alone. In the beginning, there was a housekeeper, one hired by the Hokage, who mentioned was of being a close friend with her parents, but eventually the housekeeper had to leave with no reason given.

"Yo."

Sakura instantly jumped literally, taken by surprise from the voice, she spun around to meet the boy from yesterday, the blond boy with the blue eyes.

"_How did he enter?!"_

"Who- who are you? What are you doing in my room?"

The boy walked out from the shadow, being the only source of light the moonlight peeking through the window's glass panels.

Something glittered in his hands, held tightly in both hands, a kunai. His right foot shifted, to put some weight into a forward thrusting action, his hands lowered and pulled back to get better stability to aim. He dashed forward, towards the pink-haired girl, mouth wide opened, whether a yell for help, or a gasp of shock, Naruto might never know.

"_Am I really staring into the eyes of a demon? Those green eyes, with hints of innocence within them, does she knows? Did she have a choice? Is she the container, or is she the demon? What I am doing… Who is the demon now?"_

The kunai blade glittered under the soft moonlight, highlighted by the seemingly glowing eyes of the assassin, Sakura remembered who this kid was, it was the blond kid from this morning. Naruto dashed and moved his armed hand in a circular motion, the blade came close within Sakura's face. She forced herself to take a step back, but her legs encountered the base of the bed, which was behind her, she bended backwards and crushed onto her soft bed. Naruto quickly flipped the blade, now holding it upside-down, he attempted a stabbing thrust, as Sakura barely rolled to one side in time. He tried again, prompting Sakura to roll back into her original position, feathers from the torn pillow case flew as he retracted the blade.

She gathered all her strength into her legs, and aimed to kick off the attacker, only to find her legs meeting empty air as he dodged by jumping back. Sakura took this chance to push herself up using the momentum of the kick, and headed for the door.

A couple of kunai came flying and impaled themselves deep into the wooden frame of the door, Sakura stopped and turned instead, this time reaching out for anything that she can use as a weapon.

Then suddenly, he questioned her, asking, "Who are you?"

Sakura paused in her tracks, and turned to face the intruder.

"Who are you?" he repeated.

The question rang on inside her head, when she realised that the intruder was still in the room, she was surprised to find herself alone again, the window opened. The cold winds chilled her bones, but the question asked by the boy rang on inside her head.

That was the last time she saw of that boy. And that was the last time he saw of that girl as well…

**x**

It was just a night like any other when Mizuki-sensei, a normal Chuunin academy teacher decided to take a walk. The sky was void of clouds or moon, but a presence was there with him.

"Mizuki," said the shadow who was trailing him.

The startled Mizuki quickly calmed himself before heading towards a dark alley. Likewise, the originator of the voice followed after, and revealed herself.

"Yes?" Mizuki questioned as he entered the shadows as well, his face suddenly turning all serious.

"Why did you make Naruto attack the girl? Our leader is not happy about it."

"Hear me, this is the fastest way we have to awake both the inner Sakura and Naruto's ability."

"We have already waited for so long, we don't need to take these unnecessary risks. Not to mention that the Hokage just summoned Jiraiya, to protect either of the two."

"So? We can still make it out with Naruto in our hands, with my jutsu, we-"

"Not enough, we need the other two elements as well, Naruto is useless by himself. Besides, we will have the legendary Toad Hermit following fast on our tails, and currently, I'm the only one in Konohagaure. Mizuki, listen, you work for me, not the organisation, I cannot protect you from them forever."

"Now what?"

"Naruto is too heavily guarded for now, we'll go for low profile, until we get the chance to take the Forbidden Scroll, and the children."

The shadowy figure said nothing else as she melded back into the shadow, like his partner, Mizuki simply walked off, pretending that nothing happened. It was just a night like any others when Mizuki-sensei, a normal Chuunin academy teacher, decided to take an evening stroll.


	4. Yamanaka Mizuki

**Act 1: The Calm before the Storm  
Chapter 4: Yamanaka Mizuki**  
Updated on: 3 October, 2010

* * *

It was examination time, everyone was groaning one way or the other (all except for one black-haired kid from the Nara clan of course, who could not even be bothered to complain) about the upcoming test for them to pass on to the Genin level. In front of the class, a desk with rows of Hidden Leaf forehead protector plates lined up neatly, one of the two teachers watching over the upcoming exam tried to settle down the class, while the other, simply watched on.

"Everyone sit down! Now!" Iruka shouted, while Mizuki merely grinned, taking slight amusement in watching Iruka getting angry over the slightest of things. Seeing everyone finally settled down, Iruka continued, "Now, for the graduation exam, you will do the Bunshin no Jutsu. When you are called, come up front and perform in front of the two of us. Mizuki-sensei and myself will be judges for today's exam."

Minutes passed by, as one by one walked up front to take their test, including the Nara kid, who almost failed for sleeping in class. Finally, it was her turn, Sakura was smiling, confidence as usual, though not the best in the physical aspect, Haruno Sakura had the highest score for all written tests, and she had moderately good chakra control.

A tiny smile crept onto Mizuki-sensei's lips, closing his eyes, he tried to recall a specific event that happened four years ago…

**x**

"… Sakura… Sakura… Are… all right? Sakura, are you… Sakura, are you all right?" Faint voices flooded back into her conscious, Sakura started shaking her head, as if it might help to clear things up.

"Huh?"

The class roared with laughter, Sakura quickly looked around her, many of her classmates were laughing at her for just zoning out all of the sudden in the middle of an examination.

"I'm sorry, Umino-sensei, Yamanaka-sensei! Um, I… I…"

"Are you okay? Do you need a rest?" Mizuki offered.

"Oh, no! I just remembered something all of the sudden."

Sakura did not know what got into her, all of the sudden while walking towards the performing area, she remembered what happened four years ago, the day she met the blue-eyed boy, and just froze while standing in the middle of the classroom. She never met the blond boy again, and it had already been four years, why was she suddenly remembering him?

"_I wonder… what happened to him…"_

"Where were we, Umino-sensei?"

"Where? We have not even started yet!"

"Ah! What's the examination topic again?" Sakura started to panic, by the time she remembered the topic was Bunshin…

"Nevermind that, you just failed. A shinobi needs to pay attention at all times! Be more aware of your surroundings next time." More laughter followed from the back of the classroom.

"Iruka-sensei… Perhaps it was too harsh? Sakura shows promising ability as a kunoichi," Mizuki said.

"… We'll discuss about this later, meanwhile, Sakura, you already hold up too much time for the other students, please go back to your seat."

**x**

Sakura woke up from her nap, it was dark, the lights were off, she was alone the classroom. Alone, once more.

She must had fallen asleep, what's got into her? So exhausted, as if remembering that boy drained her of all energy…

"_What does that boy look like again? His blue eyes and golden hair are the only things that I can remember…"_

Did everyone forgotten about her? Why did not anyone wake her up? Iruka said that they would discuss about her examination later, she had hoped he would give her a chance, one more shot! But now, did that mean that Iruka-sensei failed her already?

Someone tapped her on her shoulder, Sakura let out a gasp, and turned to face a tall figure, pale blond… _"That boy?"_

"Sorry, did I startle you?"

"Oh, it's only you, Yamanaka-sensei…"

"Expecting someone else?"

"Umm, no, Yamanaka-sensei… Where's…"

"Oh, they all left, _all_ of them passed the examination. You must be exhausted, we found you fallen asleep on the table, and we did not wish to disturb you, so we switched off the lights to let you rest. You must have thought that we left you, didn't you?" Mizuki smiled, his smile always melted her heart; Sakura blushed, realising his hand was still on her shoulder.

"Yamanaka-sensei, about my…"

Mizuki frowned, "That Iruka-sensei, when he decided on something, only the Hokage could change his mind, I'm sorry, Sakura-chan, I tried to persuade him, but he…"

"He failed me?"

"Iruka-sensei is a serious person, his parents were killed when he was young and he's had to do everything himself. He probably sees himself in you. He's probably thinking he wants you to become strong in the real way. Try to understand Iruka-sensei's feelings, since you also have no parents."

"But I wish I can graduate."

"Well then… I suppose I can tell you a little secret."

* * *

**- Author's Note -**

I just retconned Mizuki into the Yamanaka clan, that would make him Ino's older brother. I've also changed his ability, more details next few chapters.

While Sakura and Iruka are on a good term, she still refers him by his family name.


	5. Yamanaka Mizuki, Part II

**Act 1: The Calm before the Storm  
Chapter 5: Yamanaka Mizuki (II)  
**Updated on: 24 August, 2007

* * *

Sakura calmly walked into the Hokage Tower, there were unseen ANBU all over, but all knew of the secret relationship between their Hokage and the girl. Though they did not stop Sakura from entering, they watched her still.

"There's a visitor, Hokage-sama," a young Chuunin adult relayed the message, before opening the wooden set of door wider, to allow Sakura to slip through.

Sarutobi was surprised to see Sakura here, visiting him at such hours, normally the girl would have chose not to be seen with the older man to prevent unwanted attention (or rumours).

"Anything is the matter, Sakura-chan?" Sarutobi gave his Warmest Smile no. 1, something he would practice alone in the night in front of the mirror, no use scaring the shit out of the children with his kind of face.

There was no reply, he took a closer look, inspecting the girl from head to toe, and he could detect nothing physically wrong with the girl. But could tell something was not right, her eyes were emptied of emotions, and there was this strange aroma, sweet seducing smell…

Sarutobi Hiruzen blinked for a while, letting out a small yawn in the process, his neck suddenly ached, and his eyes heavy. And Sakura was no longer there.

Something was amiss, he looked at the candlestick on the desk, it had shortened within the short while Sakura was here. A powerful hypnotic ability **(#1)**, that was released just by the scent alone, he had no idea how long he slept, and what Sakura did while he was asleep. It dawned on him that there was something he must checked out before calling in the guards. He walked over to the wall on the far side, and tapped on a loose corner of a painting frame, revealing a hidden opening in the wall, within it was nothing.

The Forbidden Scroll of the Leaf is missing!

**x**

Though physically impossible for such a young girl to steal the Scroll regardless of the situation, Mizuki was not at all surprised at all when she did bring the Forbidden Scroll along with her, carrying the huge scroll like a baby, cradling it gently in her arms. After working years with his silent partner, the shadowy informer who would always be the one giving the orders, he had long since trusted her every words, he did not for a moment doubt that the girl would not be capable of what his partner said. Heck! With her ability, Mizuki would even believe her if she said the sun would rise from the west the next morning.

In her exact words, the shadowy kunoichi had said, "If it's one person who could walk in and steal something from the Hokage Tower in plain sight, it would be the vessel of that demon."

Mizuki walked over as bright green glow in Sakura's eyes returned to normal. "Good job," Mizuki added, as he bended down a little to retrieve the scroll.

"What… Where am I?" Still dizzy, she loosened the hold on the Forbidden Scroll, letting it rolled onto the grassy surface. Sakura did not notice as Mizuki squatted onto one knee to pick up the scroll, too preoccupied with how she got there. "The forest? How did I…?"

As if to emphasise on what she said, the sounds of inserts and birds of the night inserted their respective songs, followed by a scream echoing throughout the forest.

"Sakura!"

Mizuki could not believe they would be found so easily, no more than fifty feet away from them, was Iruka on a tree branch, panting but with the battle spirit lit up in his eyes.

"Ah! Iruka-sensei, we were just-"

Not giving neither of them the time to response, Mizuki took from his back, one of the two giant shuriken he carried, and hurled it across the field, aiming right towards Iruka.

Sakura looked at Mizuki in disbelief, as the shuriken left his hands, and Iruka did not hesitate to dodge it, barely making it, as the giant shuriken cut down the tree he was previously on.

"What's going on here, Mizuki-sensei?! Stop fighting!"

"Sakura! Get back the scroll from Mizuki!" Iruka shouted.

Sakura turned towards Mizuki-sensei, who was slinging a huge scroll over the other shuriken on his back.

"_The scroll?"_ Sakura suddenly remembered of the conversation she had with Mizuki, recalling word for word that he told her, _" 'I suppose I can tell you a little secret… those who read this scroll… will pass the examination…' "_

"Secret!" Sakura yelled, suddenly remembering the real conversation that went on back in the classroom.

"Yes, Sakura, yes, the secret. This dangerous scroll has forbidden ninjutsu sealed within it. I used you in order to get my hands on it, I honestly don't know how you did it, maybe one of your demonic powers."

"Demonic…?"

"No! Don't!" Iruka unleashed a series of kunai at his ex-colleague, but Mizuki shielded them easily with his remaining shuriken.

"Sakura… There's no point in lying any longer, I'll tell you the truth."

As if went into a frenzy, Iruka continued to attack, with each throw of his (seemingly unlimited supply of) kunai, he came one step closer to his target. Finally, when he was just within his reach to deal a melee damage attack against Mizuki, something hissing came flying through the sky, slashing and cutting through the thick woods from behind, Iruka realised too late what it was as Mizuki's first shuriken returned from the throw.

"Argh!" screamed Iruka as he was flung by the shuriken off to one side, hitting hard into another tree. Mizuki ceaselessly handled the returned shuriken and replaced it back onto his back.

Mizuki continued, still not breaking any sweat, "Twelve years ago… You know about the demon being sealed right? Since that incident, a new rule was created for this village."

"A rule…?"

"But… Sakura, this rule was never meant to be told to you."

"Not to me?! What's this rule?! Why?!" Finally revealing his true self, Mizuki abandoned his calm face and laughed madly. "What… kind of rule is it?"

"The rule is that nobody is allowed to about the fact you are that demon!"

It was becoming too hard for Sakura to handle, lost for words, all she could do was to struggle to remain standing. She knew it was true, that would explain a lot of things. Her legs wobbly, she meaninglessly questioned Mizuki-sensei one last time, "Huh?"

"It means that you are the demon that killed Iruka's parents and almost destroyed the village! The Hokage you admire sealed you up and you have been lied to by everyone! Didn't you find it odd how everyone hated you?"

Many memories came flashing by inside her head, of people leering at her, and one of those memories was of an angry boy of her age.

"Iruka is the same!" Mizuki took out both his shuriken, each in one hand, still laughing uncontrollably, he leapt into the air, aiming one shuriken at each target. "He actually hates you!" Mizuki finished off the sentence in mid-air, ready to throw both shuriken at his prey.

Did she hear it right, that she was a demon? The very same demon that killed Iruka's parents, not to mention countless others? Sakura wondered for a second whether she killed that boy's parents as well, was his angry her fault? The thought of her being the cause of misery of hundreds, maybe she deserved to die after all.

"Live!"

The warm drop of blood dripping down brought Sakura back to sanity, the last thing she could remember was Mizuki throwing the two shuriken at them, one for each of them. They were a few feet apart back then, then why is Iruka-sensei doing over her?

Another drop touched Sakura's face, this time it was cold. Iruka was crying.

"Sakura, you must have been in a lot of pain as well… I'm sorry, Sakura, if I had done a better job, you wouldn't have had feel like this."

Iruka had shielded Sakura from Mizuki's shuriken, which was meant for her. Sakura was speechless.

"What are you waiting for?! Run!"

If only she could, she had long since lost the strength in her legs.

"Run!" Sakura could see Mizuki slowly walking towards the tree that the second shuriken had dug deeply into, withdrawing his weapon effortlessly.

**x**

Uzumaki Naruto leapt from one tree to another, he was there when the Hokage used his spying crystal, the old man had really believed Sakura to be innocent somehow, despite seeing for his eyes how Sakura walked in and how she disappeared along with the Forbidden Scroll. He did not believe otherwise at first, but after the mist within the crystal ball cleared up…

Together, the two of them spied the conversation between Mizuki and Iruka, and even an idiot could tell who's the villain in this devilish plot, Mizuki was laughing madly, almost crazy with the scroll in his hands. Both as in the power the Scroll that might bring Mizuki, and as well as the control he enjoyed over the weaker Iruka and Sakura pair. Evil villains always talk too much, this Naruto hoped to be true, he recognised the place, a place that looked just like many others, but it was the same place Mizuki had asked him to meet him at four years ago.

Naruto knew little of the Scroll, in fact, before this night, he did not even know such scroll existed, though this might answered his thoughts about how his father learnt the forbidden jutsu used to seal the demon twelve years ago.

He was nearing his destination, already he could hear Mizuki's laughs.

**x**

"Die!" Mizuki threw his shuriken once again, this turn, directly at the paralysed Sakura, he would not miss, with luck, he might even get both with one hit. Mizuki grinned with the thought of that.

Suddenly a small kunai appeared from within the depth of the forest, the throw was strong and accurate, it forced Mizuki's shuriken off its course. Iruka barely made it out alive as the weapon missed his back, but it glazed his side, managing to bring a small chuck of flesh along with it, Iruka was bleeding uncontrollably.

Barely conscious from the pain, he attacked back at Mizuki, throwing the last of his kunai, while Mizuki fended off the attacks from reaching his vital organs, Iruka gathered all of his strength and carried Sakura into the shadows.

**x**

"_Damned!"_ Mizuki plucked out the kunai that were embedded into his arms, which he used to shield the attacks against his face. "_Who could it be?!"_

Naruto, though talented for a twelve-year-old boy, was not willing to risk his life for any careless overlooked mistakes, Naruto quickly assessed the situation, everything went through his mind at least once. Naruto took note of the current positions of his two shuriken, one was still… on Iruka's back, while the other only a few feet away from where Mizuki was standing. While, he himself was still unseen, he moved sideway through the trees, as he calculated the distance and angle needed for a fatal hit as quickly and silently as possible, Naruto repositioned himself, this time, directly facing Mizuki's unguarded back.

Mizuki did not waste any time either, sprinting with a few of the kunai still stuck on him, he reached for his remaining weapon, and he retracted his hand just in time as multiple kunai came flying. "_Behind!"_ Spinning in mid-air, he faced his opponent and reached out from his side pockets, a stack of smaller standard issued shuriken, and dispatched them in the direction of the previous throw.

With his agility, dodging the shuriken in a cover of leaves and branches was no problem for the trained Naruto, but he failed to notice as Mizuki did a quick back-flip, one hand supporting the body, flipping himself backwards, towards the giant shuriken, while the other hand continued to throw smaller shuriken, this time more random.

"_Looks like a melee fight is unavoidable, but…"_

**x**

A loud thump was all there was, as Iruka fell face down, Sakura immediately ran over to his side and tried frantically trying to lift him up, or at least turned him over onto his back. "Iruka-sensei!"

Sakura took off the huge ribbon tied around her head, but realised a cloth of this size could not bandage the wound so big, regardless, she pressed hard against the bleeding wound with the ribbon. The ribbon was too thin a material to be of any use, all it did, was becoming red, soaking her hands in his blood.

"Iru… ka… sen…sei…," Sakura cried out his name.

"Sakura-chan…," Iruka barely managed to turn his head, but still having a smile on his face.

"Sensei! Don't speak!"

"You are not the… demon… You are who you are, Haruno Sakura, daughter of the woman I knew, whom I know has been watching over you in heaven…"

"You knew my mother…?"

"He… He had no choice, the Hokage was willing to sacrifice his son, but for the female demon to be contained, they needed a girl…"

"I understand! Just don't say anything anymore! Conserve your strength!"

Therefore, Iruka went silent.

**x**

Shuriken in one hand, the Scroll still on his back, Mizuki stood proudly at where he was, he did not know of that who the attacker was, the attacker might be another Chuunin, but so far he had no problem fending off the attacks. Ranged kunai here and there, and constantly remained hidden, he must had knew that he could not be a match for him in melee one-on-one.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu **(#2)**, Gama Hekireki **(#3)**!"

In the very instance, the clearing was suddenly filled with literally hundreds, if not thousands of small fist-size toads, each wearing a miniature blue coat, with a small picture of a lightning bolt sewed onto them. The 'thunder toads' filled up every inches of space available around Mizuki, from the tree branches to stone borders, all of them… doing nothing.

Mizuki was stumped for the second, with this much toads all around him, he believed one coordinated synchronised jump alone could put him off his feet.

"_Shit!"_

Naruto covered his ears, as he finally yelled out his attack move, "Roar of the Thunder Toads!"

_**-RRRIIIIIIBBIIIIIT-**_

Every single toad croaked at the single moment, followed by another wave and another, each individual croak accurate down to the single nano-second, and each wave of the croaking went into a higher pitch, creating waves of deafening agony punishments onto Mizuki's eardrums.

Realising the battle was won, the toads were dismissed, Naruto took one last glance at the grounded Mizuki, with foams forming from his mouth. Kicking his shuriken to one side, and picking up the Forbidden Scroll to sling it onto his back, Naruto took off to follow the bloody trail, hoping it was not too late for the Chuunin called Iruka!

He would have to question Mizuki later, there were a lot of questions he had to ask.

**x**

Mizuki struggled onto his feet, definitely showing signs of serious disorientation, he did not bother to pick up his shuriken in his extreme state of dizziness before trying to escape from the scene of the crime.

Leaping off into mid-air, something crashed into him, knocking him backwards onto the solid ground, with his hands still on his aching head, Mizuki looked up to see a shadowy figure standing before him.

"Jingi-san! Get me out of here! Now! They know my identity now!" Mizuki literally shouted.

The shadowy figure could not help feeling pity for the poor bastard, having witness such fearsome attack from the distance, 'very innovative' was his only thought. "'Indeed, now that they know of what you are trying to do, ANBU teams are already heading this way for you."

Mizuki put his right hand up to his ears, shouting once more, "Say what?! I can't hear you!"

"…"

The two of them stared at each other, Mizuki trying to figure out what was wrong with his friend, who seemed strangely not herself, while the other figure wondered if it was worth the effort to continue their conversation.

Something dawned onto Mizuki, his expression told the shadowy figure outright that he finally realised the truth.

"Who- You're not her! Who are you?! Where's Jingi Kagetsu?" Mizuki tried in vain to stand on his two feet, while the stranger took off his hat, revealing his face. Mizuki's face distorted with surprise, showing great signs of horrors. "Uchiha!"

Ignoring the fact that Mizuki might not be able to hear him, the robed man continued anyway, "You have failed twice, neither the Scroll nor the kids are in our hands, my instruction is clear."

"I- I almost got the Forbidden Scroll!"

"Almost is not enough, besides, the Scroll is useless without Sakura, and you attempted to kill her."

"I got the Scroll back then already, what use do I have for the demon brat?"

"You thought that the reason we are interested in Haruno Sakura is just to steal a scroll? You will not use your Shincho Eikyou no Jutsu **(#4)** on anyone ever again."

This time, Mizuki jerked with fear, "What?! Urgh!"

* * *

**-**** Glossary ****-**

**#1 :: Powerful hypnotic ability** – It is not named, but I nicknamed it as 'Aroma of Slumber'. It is not a shinobi technique but rather a power from the demon within Sakura.  
**#2 :: Kuchiyose no Jutsu** – Summoning Technique, the user must first establish a contract with a type of summoned creature, in Naruto's case, the toads.  
**#3 :: Gama Hekireki** – Thunder toads.  
**#4 :: Shincho Eikyou no Jutsu** – Emotion Influence Technique, a Yamanaka family technique to influence people into doing their bidding, an original jutsu invented by me.


	6. Yamanaka Ino

**Act 1: The Calm before the Storm  
Chapter 6: Yamanaka Ino**  
Updated on: 24 August , 2007

* * *

_Six years ago…_

It was a lovely morning to start school, rows of children, all enrolled to the shinobi academy, if all went well, they might become Chuunins as their parents did, or maybe even Jounins. A short roll of adults stood in front of the children, they would be the teachers assigned to this class.

Nothing more was more satisfying than that to Suzume-sensei, one of the teachers for the new batch of six years old students, she looked around at the back row where the parents were, hoping to find some famous clans. She noted that the Uchiha adults were not here with them like the other anxious parents, but the look on the young Uchiha pleased her greatly as he appeared excited and confident, not affected by the lack of his parents to witness his first day in school. He will one day walk in the footsteps in his brother.

"And now, boys and girls, take turn, and walk up to the front to introduce yourself to the class."

Many future generations of great clans were in that very room, from the Aburame to the great Uchiha, and unfortunately, a Haruno as well. The children took their turn in going up front, and then were only two left, a Yamanaka and _the_ Haruno.

"My name is Yamanaka Ino! I like flowers, my parents own a flower shop when they are not fighting to help the village! Come visit me anytime!" The responses were the same usual claps coming from the children who were too busy talking among themselves to pay attention to anything said.

"That's nice, Ino-chan, please take your seat." The beaming Ino make a lady-like bow to the audiences (who were not even paying attention) and walked down the 'stage'.

The young Sakura quickly stood up from her seat, straightening her dress as she prepared for her turn.

"Okay, class, now that we have finished knowing one another, let's go out to the field to get your first practical on. Now, remember to stand in neat file as we exit the school building."

The cheering were drowning the stoned Sakura, she blinked a few times, looked around, and then a few times at the teacher, hoping someone remembered that she had not gone up front yet. _"Umm… I have not…?"_

Then, the girl before her walked up to her, "Hi! You can call me Ino, how may I call you?"

Sakura smiled back to her new friend, and replied.

**x**

"_Sakura, what a beauty you are becoming..."_

It was now Haruno Sakura's turn to take the Genin examination, the topic was Bunshin, something Sakura was good at. There was no way you would fail! A small smile gradually appeared on her face.

Time slowed down, as Ino's glance moved over to the boy seating in front, the Uchiha kid. She smiled even more, prompting Nara Shikamaru, who was sitting beside her to give her a strange stare. Shikramaru sighed before going back to his daydream.

Suddenly, someone laughed, and a few others pointed their fingers to the front of the classroom, Ino turned to look what was the commotion. And there she was, Sakura, suddenly pausing there, right in the middle of the classroom, somewhere in between the first two rows of tables.

In front of the classroom, were the two examiners for today's test, Umino Iruka-sensei, and Yamanaka Mizuki-nii-san, who was looking as bored as usual. Iruka-sensei was having this strange expression on his face, he could not believe Sakura would just space out all of the sudden, while walking! While Mizuki yawned, for the third time; he was not the usual teacher for this class, he was assigned to the class next to them, and only came over to their class to help out when there was an examination going on. Mizuki noticed his sister looking at him, and winked back, before yawning for the fourth time.

Meanwhile, off in his little world, Shikamaru decided it was a good time to take a nap, and so he did.

**x**

Ino laid on the flowery patch of grass, with her arms and legs spread out wide, somehow believing that she could be among the flowers. Her brother was just sitting beside her, as per instructed, Mizuki had brought Ino to this place, as their parents had with him when he was young. Unlike his little sister, Mizuki had absolutely no interest what-so-ever in flowers, or greenery for the matter, but he loved her dearly, and Ino was satisfied with that.

"You look especially happy today, anything happened?" Mizuki asked as he cast a little glance towards his little sister.

"Oh… nothing!" Ino giggled. "I met this kid this morning! And I think we will be the best of friends!"

"What's her name?" Mizuki asked out of habit.

"His name-" Mizuki's brows twisted. "-is Uchiha Sasuke!" Mizuki froze, of all people, an Uchiha.

**x**

_Present time…_

"_His name is Uchiha Sasuke!"_

That was all the twelve years old Ino could remembered of the dream, with the sleepy eyes still on her face, Ino dragged her feet over towards the washroom. Inside, she almost literally tore her pyjamas apart as she struggle to coordinate her mind and hands together to unbutton the grown.

Ino turned on the tap, letting the water runs through her hands, she splashed her face again and again. With her fingers still wet, she wrote the name of 'Sa-su-ke!' onto the mirror.

Exiting the washroom, Ino happily skipped a few steps to reach the stairs and jumped down the few remaining steps as she approached ground level.

The kitchen was unexpectedly quiet this morning, only the sound of the burned toasts and hissing of the boiling water.

His father and mother standing by the door, with a shinobi messenger standing beyond the door frame, her mother turned to look at Ino for a while, before quickly turned back to hide her teary eyes. The stranger left, having delivered the message, leaving the grieving pair. The sound of the weeping mother finally broke the dreadful silence.

**x**

"Yamanaka Mizuki, son of the Yamanaka Inoichi, a highly respected Jounin who earned his reputation during the war many years back. The Yamanaka clan specialised in genjutsu involving the working of the mind and apparently his son had learned the art of Shincho Eikyou no Jutsu without the knowing of his family. While Shintenshin no Jutsu **(#1)** enter opponent's minds and takes control over them, the Shincho Eikyou influences the mind into doing its bidding, it is normally not used as a battle technique, as the jutsu required to be cast before the confrontation of the target. Though having a high success rate, the factor as to how much extent the victim is brought into the influences of the jutsu, depends on the will of the target.

"Like how Haruno Sakura, and now according to our latest information, Uzumaki Naruto, were both brought under the power of this jutsu. Naruto's confusion towards the matter of Sakura was amplified into anger, leading to his attack. While we are not exactly sure of how Mizuki brought out the demon in Sakura, as witness by Hokage-sama, she used one of the demon's power when stealing the Forbidden Scroll. That's the end of my report, Hokage-sama."

The Jounin went back to his seat, a seat belonging to a huge table, occupied by important elders and senior council members of Konohagakure.

Jiraiya yawned, as he took out a piece of paper to pen down ideas for his next book. Another Jounin stood up to deliver his report, "As of now, we still do not know who Mizuki worked for, his body was found last night, and his head is yet to be found, though we suspect that it might have been stolen."

**x**

_Yesterday… The last moment of Yamanaka Mizuki…_

Someone once told him that a severed head would live on for a few more seconds before it died, now, as his head flew through the misty air, he could see his own body, a few feet away, dropping flat onto the floor in slow motion. In fact, everything seemed to be going in slow-motion, the world would not stop spinning, Yamanaka Mizuki was getting dizzy. It was the longest ten seconds ever.

Blood came rushing out from his nostrils and slightly ajar mouth, possibly from his eyes and ears as well, but Mizuki no longer cared. The only thing on his mind was Ino, his sister, how would she live without the older brother looking after her. Finally of Jingi Kagetsu, how he wished that the last look on her face was not in shadows, and how he could see her again. He wondered what she thought of him as, a mere pawn of the organisation called Akatsuki.

**x**

_Today…_

Ino sat in the flower shop idly, doing nothing but stare off into the empty space, she more or less ignored the people coming in or out, including her parents, who were getting worried. They had lost a son and it seemed as if they were going to lose their daughter as well.

As the day turned into a night, Ino's father was beginning to close the shop, carrying crates of flowers into the back of the shop, while her mother entered the house to prepare dinner. Both adults attempted to performed their normal daily schedule as possible for the sake of their daughter, but they did not notice their newest customer

The last customer of the day entered the shop, saying only, "Good evening, Ino-chan."

Ino looked up to see a lady in black robe with designs of red clouds; the lady had a ageless face, her black silky hair reached up to the shoulders and with a single thin golden streak brushed to her left. She was giving Ino the creep, for once Ino felt something in her heart today, the feeling of fear. Her silver eyes were staring coldly at her, yet Ino could feel some saddened emotion in her unmoving face. Resisting staring straight into the stranger's eyes, Ino decided to ignore the stranger, wondering when she would leave so they could close off the shop.

"My name is Jingi Kagetsu **(#2)**, I was a friend of your brother," It was only then did Ino notice the burden the customer was holding in her hands, a big black bag, with stenches of blood in it.

* * *

**- Glossary -**

**#1 :: Shintenshin no Jutsu** – Mind Body Switch Technique, Ino's main special skill in "Naruto".  
**#2 :: Jingi Kagetsu** – Akatsuki number 2, her name means 'scared treasure' and 'bright moon'.


	7. Uchiha Sasuke

**Act 1: The Calm before the Storm  
Chapter 7: Uchiha Sasuke**  
Updated on: 3 October, 2010

* * *

_Six years ago…_

It was the first day of school for Sasuke and the other six-year- olds enrolling into the academy.

"Now, stay here, will you do that?" Itachi asked, and received a nod from his little brother. Before taking one more step out of the classroom, Itachi turned to make sure the little Sasuke was not going to misbehave. "Be nice, Sasuke-kun, I will pick you up at five," Itachi reminded as his footsteps slowly faded off into the distance, down the corridor of the academy.

Sasuke looked around, the classroom was huge for his size, and because they had arrived early, there were only one other person in the room other than him. A young girl was quietly browsing through a book with pictures of flowers, when she noticed his presence, she quickly ran up to him and introduced herself to him.

"I'm Ino," she said as she smiled radiantly.

Sasuke ignored her.

**x**

_Five years ago…_

His friends were laughing at him, it was Ino again, she was following him everywhere, and they were saying that he should hang out with the girls instead, since the girls like him so much.

Sasuke stopped hanging out with those kids, but neither did he go over to the girls, regardless, he could never find a moment when the girls were not looking in his direction. _"What is wrong with them?!"_

One night, while having their dinner, his older brother jokingly said that he was a 'chick-magnet', he could not get the joke, but apparently, everyone else did, as his family laughed along. His mother started mentioning that she could not wait to meet all the in-laws he was going to get one day when he grew up. Little Sasuke did not understand that as well, so he just quietly ate his dinner.

There was even a time when Sasuke started hating school just because of the girls who would talk behind his back, or drop pink envelops with heart-shaped stickers on it into his bags. He only read the first one, but found it too confusing, so he dumped the rest out.

One day, his mother told him that his brother would not be able to send him to school that day, he wondered why. Sasuke wished that everything would return to normal by the time he returned home.

At school, Ino gathered up her courage, and asked him whether he wanted to visit her house. He said no. Ino then suggested that it was a good season to see the flowers in her shop. He replied that he did not really like flowers, and ran out of the classroom while the class was still going on.

It was a bad day, Sasuke decided to return home early, he wondered if his mother would be at home, what if she was? What reason was he going to tell his mom for skipping school? It was then Sasuke remembered that it was his first time skipping school.

When he finally arrived back to the Uchiha compound, he found the main gates to be unlocked. He did not think much about it as he passed through the gates into the garden, it was disturbingly quiet. Upon reaching the main mansion, he kicked aside his sandals, and entered the building barefooted.

The moment he stepped into the house, his feet came into contact with warm red liquid. It was all over – the walls, the floors, the bodies, and his older brother. Uchiha Itachi stood over the bodies of their parents with a katana in one hand, his Sharingan eyes shone brightly in the dimmed room, he looked at his younger brother and opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out as if deciding otherwise. Maybe he did say something, just that younger Uchiha just did not watch to hear it.

Itachi activated his Mangekyou Sharingan, and a new form of Sharingan took shape within his eyes' irises, and with them, he captured Sasuke in his mind. In a prison that lasted for days and weeks, Sasuke would die a hundred deaths, a death for each person he would kill today, a death for each stab he took in his heart for the sins he had or would commit. At the end of each death, Itachi would stand over the body of his little brother, peering down into his broken soul, and saying the same line over and over.

"The path I am on now is made by breaking the dreams and hopes of others, but I walked this path without regret, because this is what I truly desired, Sasuke. When it is time for you to choose, do not let others influence your objective. The end justifies the means."

By the time someone freed him from Itachi's prison, Sasuke had no idea how much time had passed. The ANBU in an animal mask asked him, "Are you okay?" But what was he to answer? He already felt numb to the pain in his heart, he looked beyond the ANBU kneeling in front of him and confirmed to himself the death of his parents. He turned around and looked out onto the street, and it was littered with body parts and more blood.

An older man hurriedly hustled passed him, following another ANBU into a room deeper within the compound, there rested Kakashi, whose physical wounds were not as bad as it looked. The Hokage sighed, wondering how these could this have happened.

"Are you all right, boy?" the ANBU asked again. With his brother's words still ringing in his mind, Sasuke collapsed and allowed himself to be carried away.

**x**

_Days, weeks, months, years later since then…_

Sasuke changed after that, for the short while after the incident, he was adopted into the Hokage family, but he could not stand the gossips that were going on behind his back, he requested to live alone back at the Uchiha compound. The Hokage respected his decision, and arranged people to clean it up before allowing him back in.

The first time he arrived back to the main mansion, he saw that all were as he remembered, the bodies and blood might be missing, but they remained in his memories. Sasuke moved from the main mansion into a smaller building within the same compound, originally built for the servants, he did not want to go back there ever again.

School resumed for him after a while and nothing changed, the people were now discussing about the massacre right in front of him, the boys still avoided him, the girls still went gaga over him, and Ino was still there.

"Get lost! You're irritating!" Sasuke would tell Ino countless times, but Ino would always recover with a smile.

One day, he passed by a flower shop, he realised too late that the shop was owned by the Yamanakas, and naturally Ino was there looking after the shop (where else would she be if she's not behind Sasuke?).

"Sasuke-kun! You finally visited me," Ino shouted across the street, still with that silly grin on her face, and her eyes glowing with almost murderous intention, he did not want to know what she was going to do _with_ him if they were alone.

Sasuke ignored her, and tried to walk on, but the crazy Ino chose to intercept him by jumping over the counter, resulting into a head-on crash. Sasuke picked himself up from the dusty pathway and ran as fast as he could, while Ino was still seeing stars around her head, feeling giddy.

Ino did not realise it, but Sasuke did, for a short moment, their lips brushed by.

**x**

_Present time…_

The school bell rang, and the class settled down, anxious to learn about their examination results from yesterday Genin test. It did not take long for the students to realise that neither Iruka-sensei nor Mizuki-sensei would be coming anytime soon. Which was queer as Iruka-sensei was not someone who would be late, some of the students even went over to Mizuki-sensei's class next door, and learned that Mizuki-sensei did not come by to their class as well.

While the class president tried to return order to the chaotic class, the door slammed open, entering someone none of the students had seen before.

"Geez, why do I have to do the dirty jobs?" Taking the cigarette out of his mouth, and realised there was no ashtray around, Asuma put the cigarette butt into his pocket. "Ahem, I will be your stand-in teacher for today, you may call me Asuma-sensei. In addition, I will be heading one of the teams in this class. The first matter of today is the test results… Everyone passed."

The students were confused with what was going on: all of the sudden, a stand-in teacher walked in and announced that everyone passed. There were some cheering, some leaping in joy, and this Asuma-sensei did not appear to really care with the mess the students were making.

"Now, you will soon be assigned duties by the village. So today, we will be splitting all of you up into teams of three, and each team will have a Jounin instructor. You will follow his or her instructions as you complete the assigned duties."

_"A new teacher? Where's Iruka-sensei? And three-man teams? That just means more people in my way…"_

Sasuke gave a quick survey across the classroom, starting with the stand-in teacher of theirs, moving towards the back of the room, something was not right, but he could not put a finger on it. Despite not really paying attention to what's going on, he could not help noticing that the teacher skipped 'seven', and went on from Team 6 to Team 8. Then it came to Team 10, where he heard her name, Yamanaka Ino.

"Yamanaka Ino? Hello? Any Yamanaka Ino around here?" Seeing no response, the puzzled teacher waited for a while, before a girl raised her hand.

"Sensei! Ino-chan didn't come to school today."

"Oh? Oh, okay, listen up, Akimichi Chouji and Nara Shikamaru, as her teammates, be sure to inform her of her team and her instructor, who will be me…"

There was no response from Shikarmaru, while Chouji looked up for a split second to see what their new instructor was like before focusing his eyes back into the bag of snacks again.

All voices and commotions started to fade away from his conscious, as Sasuke realised what was missing, the irritating voice of Ino.


	8. Umino Iruka

Previously: Twelve years ago, a demon attacked the village and was sealed by the Hokage into the body of the young Sakura. Years passed and the son of the then-Hokage, Naruto, discovered the truth from an agent of Akatsuki, and attacked Sakura. Similarly, Sasuke witnessed his parent's death under the hand of his own brother.

**Interlude: Umino Iruka  
**Updated on: 4 October, 2010

* * *

The Hokage and a nurse stepped into the ward, without disturbing the sleeping Sakura, who had fallen asleep on the only wooden chair beside the bed. The nurse took out the readings of the patient, and signal to the Hokage that the patient had been in stable condition before heading out, quietly closing the door behind her.

Having lost a lot of blood, Umino Iruka had not woken up since been admitted, as the head of the shinobi village, the Hokage practically know all people of the village, and Iruka was no stranger to him. His father was the instructor of the mother of Sakura, much like he was the teacher of her right now.

Sakura stirred, sub-consciously moving her hand to massage her aching neck, before falling asleep again. Once Sakura settled down again, Hokage carried the sleeping girl over to the leather couch, and left the ward as well, wishing Iruka best of luck.

He joined up with Naruto, who was waiting outside, he indicated to the boy that he was heading back. But Naruto merely shook his head, "I'll be waiting here a bit."

**x**

Hours passed, and Naruto entered the room with a tray of food, and was surprised to see Sakura awake, back to the wooden chair by the bed. The girl turned to see Naruto, and then to the tray. "Thanks," was all she said as she removed her hands from Iruka's and took the tray over and put it over at a table by the couch.

_"Does she remember me?"  
"He looks familiar, where have I seen him before?"_

_"Regardless, you are as how I remembered you, beautiful pink hair with sea-green eyes."  
"Golden hair and clear blue eyes…"_

Sakura let out a gasp as she finally recalled where/when she had seen him before, she quickly turned around, to see the boy putting on a silly smile.

"I see that you remembered," a whisper, so as not to disturb the patient. Naruto could see Sakura was confused, and offered his explanation and apologies, "I'm sorry, about what happened, four years ago. I was under bad influence back then."

Sakura did not know to say, so she did not say anything at all, and the two of them stared at each other awkwardly, both feeling uneasy.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto," was all he could think of.

"Haruno Sakura," Sakura said shyly, as if it was the first time they met.

**x**

_Sixteen years ago…_

Iruka stirred from his sleep, and heard a soothing voice over him, "So, you are awake, Iruka-kun."

A warm hand moved to feel his forehead, causing Iruka opened his eyes to see who it was.

"Hmm? Where…?"

The older girl looked down, and laughed quietly, gently lifting Iruka's head off her lap. "You fell asleep on my lap, I did not want to wake you up, you looked so tired, so I told your father that he can come back later to pick you up."

_"Lap…?"_

"Ah!" Iruka quickly pushed himself upright into a sitting position, his face blushing to a deep rose colour. "_So embarrassing! A seven-year- old teen, sleeping on the lap of the… most… beautiful female kunoichi… ever! Oh god, to let her see my unmanly sleeping habit, damn!"_

"You are so cute when you are asleep," she smiled as she tried to stand up.

_"Thanks heaven!"_

"Ah!" said Hana **(#1)** suddenly as she straightened her legs to get up.

"What's the matter, Hana-san?" Iruka popped back onto his feet, with his hands stretched out to catch the falling Chuunin.

"Oh dear, my legs have gone all numb," with one hand on the wall, Hana pushed herself up.

"You mean, you didn't move at all?"

"Of course not, I would have woken you up," Hana replied, still trying to wiggle her toes.

"Please, Hana-san, don't do that for me, I'm _seven _already, I'm a man now," Iruka said.

"No harm done, I was reading anyway, and like I said, you looked so sweet. Want to eat anything before your father come to pick you up?" Hana moved off into the kitchen. "We didn't eat anything just now."

"No, no thanks, I will help myself, please sit down."

"Don't be silly, you are the guest here." Flickering the kitchen lights on, Hana looked through the fridge for anything that she could cook up with.

"Where's pops? And Nobara-san **(#1)**?"

"Kujira-san **(#2)** and Nobara-nii-san went to have a drink down the road." Deciding that she would not have the time to cook up dinner, Hana quickly took out some cold snack from the cabinet instead.

"Are you in a hurry, Hana-san?"

"Oh, I'm meeting _him_," said Hana, as she went into her room. Iruka watched as the older girl closed the door, sounds of closet opening, and rustling of clothes could be heard through the door. "Well, I be going off first, if my brother asks where I am, just say I'm meeting some friends," Hana shouted. After a while, while Iruka was in the kitchen looking through the snacks, Hana appeared back into the living room dressed up to meet _him_, "Lock up if you are going anywhere, if my brother asks when I'm coming back, tell him I'm staying overnight at my friend's place."

Iruka caught a glimpse of her long pink hair, as she hurriedly exited the building. When the door opened, he saw the man she's meeting, his golden hair and blue eyes, even for a seven years old, Iruka could not help feeling jealous.

**x**

_Sixteen years ago…_

Iruka laid lazily on the mat, watching the television with one hand on the remote. Fed up with the lack of variety in the programmes, Iruka threw the remote at the box that offered more static and noise than channels, picking himself up from the mat, he walked towards the gate to head to somewhere fun, it's a weekend after all.

As he approached the iron gate separating the small Umino building with the outside world, he was surprised to find Haruno Hana out there, with her hands on the fence. "Hey! Iruka-kun, let me in," pleaded Hana.

_"Great! Hana's here again!"_ Iruka secretly grinned, and quickly ran over to open the gate.

"Who's it, Iruka?" his father shouted from across the room.

"Good afternoon, Kujira-san! It's me again, sorry to bother you."

Iruka's father popped his head out from one corner of the room. "Run away again? Can't the two of you ever get along? Moreover, why do you always run here when you are running away from home? You live right next door!"

"That's the great thing about your place, I can return anytime I want, beside, my brother is afraid of you," said Hana, as she kicked her sandals aside before entering the building.

**x**

_Sixteen years ago…_

"Hana-chan! Your brother is here to fletch you!" Iruka's mother shouted from down the stairs.

Iruka turned to Hana, as the older girl was flipping through his books, obviously ignoring the fact that her brother was finally here to get her home.

Hana was nine years older than he was, but was still acting like a young girl, not at all acting like an adult Chuunin as she should be. Like her brother, Nobara, Hana was a talented kunoichi, just lacking the motivation to try harder for the Jounin exam, her skills in the blade was second best in the Haruno household, and had the teachings of both her brother and Iruka's father.

"So… What's the latest argument between the two of you?" Iruka asked, trying to pick up a topic.

"Hmm, let just say that my brother is just getting jealous of Arashi again," Hana said while smiling.

_"Hizashi Arashi _**(#3)**_ again eh? I think I am getting jealous myself…"_

**x**

_Twelve years ago… Two months before the arrival of Konohagakure Demon…_

"Why?!" The elder of the two pushed the younger against the wall, both hands clutching hard on collar of the other, his fiery red hair was in contrast with the blond hair of the younger shinobi. "You promised me, that you would protect her! Tell me now, where is she?!"

Tears rushed out as he shouted, the younger of the two could only turn away, even though his own grief ate him from inside out, no tears could come out. His eyes had lost the colours he once had, the cheerfulness and spirit fled, leaving only sadness.

The red-headed Jounin collapsed onto his knees, weeping out loud of his sister's fate, while cursing against the one who still remained standing before him.

Meanwhile, in a distance, Iruka slid his back against the wall, the very thought of her death went through repeatedly. He covered his face with his arms to hide the tears, tears that were shed for Hana, Haruno Hana.

**x**

_Present time…_

By the time Umino Iruka regained consciousness, Haruno Sakura had already return home, alone in the dark room, with the lone moon outside the windows, he thought about the dreams he had of the time when Sakura's mother was still alive.

* * *

**- Glossary –**

**#1 :: Hana, Nobara** – The Haruno siblings are named after 'flower' and 'rose' respectively.**  
#2 :: Umino Kujira** – Iruka's father is named after 'whale', just like how Iruka is named after 'dolphin'.**  
#3 :: Hizashi Arashi** – Hizashi means 'sunlight', Arashi means 'storm'.


	9. Team 7

**Act 2: Under the Guidance of a Scarecrow  
Chapter 9: Team 7  
**Updated on: 4 October, 2010

* * *

The next day, Haruno Sakura was practically bouncing up and down on the bed when she found out Umino Iruka had regained consciousness, the ward nurse was forced to drag the girl out from the bed before she kills the Chuunin. While Iruka hoped that he could laugh it off, jumping on top of him was no laughing matter.

"Heard that you're a Genin now, who's your instructor?" Iruka mustered with his remaining strength, trying to distract the girl long enough for him to regain some energy to fight back.

"Actually, I haven't met him or my teammates yet, but I heard that he's Hatake Kakashi."

"He's a good man."

Iruka knew the legendary Copycat Ninja well, he believed Kakashi would take good care of the three kids. Sakura then explained to Iruka of how the Hokage passed her on the ground of her good conduct and her past previous test results.

Sakura did not want to leave Iruka at his present state, but she still had a simple graduation to go through, not to mention meeting her new teammates and instructor. With the encouragement of Iruka, she made haste to the school, eager to retrieve her forehead-protector to show Iruka.

On her way there, she found Naruto standing dumbly in front of the school gate.

"Naruto-kun? Are you graduating today as well?"

The boy turned and smiled.

"Why aren't you going in?"

"Would you believe me if I tell you that this would be my first time stepping into this school?" Naruto asked, showing the girl the very same face he had four years ago, one of sadness paralleled hers.

Just as the girl was about to say something, Naruto quickly put back a smile, and ran straight in without further hesitation, and together they entered the almost empty room, with only two other people inside. The only adult among the two, was wearing a mask over his mouth, while leaving his forehead protector slanted over his left eye, effectively hiding it.

The stranger did not bother to introduce himself before throwing one forehead protector at Naruto and Sakura each. While Sakura tied it around where her ribbon used to be, Naruto put it on his forehead. Then the adult shinobi waved his hand, wanting the third student, who already got his protector, to come forward to the front of the classroom.

"I'm Hatake Kakashi, from now on, I will be leading Team 7. Let's being with some introductions, let's see, how about your likes, dislikes, dreams for the future, hobbies, stuff like that?"

"…"

The responses were a lot worse than he could imagine, Sasuke would only stare at him, Naruto was busy scanning around the new environment, and Sakura almost looked like she was afraid of him.

"Okay, I will start first. My name is Hatake Kakashi, I have no desire to tell you guys about my likes and dislikes. Dreams for the future…? Hmm… Well, I have a lot of hobbies."

"…"

There was once again a great silent among the four of them, as the trio tried to figure out whether that was a trick answer, or their Kakashi-sensei was that boring.

"So, sensei, all we learnt is your name?" Naruto commented.

Ignoring the statement right away, Kakashi continued, "Now, it's your turn, from the right."

"Right on! My name is Uzumaki Naruto! I like… ramen, I suppose. Well, I like that 'Ichiraku Ramen' stall that Konohamaru-kun brought me to a few days! What I dislike is instant cup ramen, waiting three minutes for it to cook is a waste of time! Besides, one hot bowl of real miso ramen can out beat ten cups of instant ramen anytime!"

_"Does he think about anything besides ramen?"_

"And my dream is to own a ramen store! Not one, but a chain of them!"

_"He has grown in an interesting way, what kind of abuses did Naruto suffer under Jiraiya's hands to make him worship ramen?"_

"Hobbies… pranks, I guess."

_"Is this really that boy from four years ago?"_ Sakura could not help wondering if he had an evil twin brother.

"I see… Next," Kakashi said boringly.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke," Sasuke started off, leaning against the classroom wall, he continued with a low moody voice, "there are tons of things I dislike, and I don't like anything. And… I don't want to use the word 'dream' but… I have an ambition, it's the resurrection of my clan and to kill a certain man."

Both Naruto and Sakura faced their teammate, though Sakura knew Sasuke longer, she felt like she didn't know him much at all, in fact, all she knew about him were from the one-sided conversations Ino had with her about him.

Naruto wondered if there were any deeper meaning to the arrangement of this team, he knew out right of Kakashi's relationship with his father, could this be the reason he was called for this job?

"Okay, and lastly, the girl."

"I'm Haruno Sakura, the thing I like… The thing I dislike..." Sakura realised that she knew as little of herself as she knew of Sasuke. "Anyway, for my dream of the future, I wish that all of the people in this village will one day acknowledge my existence."

_"What a cracked-up mix of students I have this year."_

"Okay! That's enough of for today, we will start our duties tomorrow. First, we are going to do something with just the four of us, survival training."

Naruto: "Survival training?"  
Sasuke: "We did enough training at the academy."  
Sakura: "Why is our duty 'training'?"

Again, ignoring all three of them, Kakashi said, "I'm your opponent, but this isn't normal training. I will be grading you on this training, and anyone who fail will be sent back to the academy."

Kakashi received the usual objections from the three of them, he had plenty of those with the past students he had using this method.

"More details can be read from this printout, don't be late tomorrow. Bring all your tools and weapons, and oh, skip breakfast, or you'll throw up."


	10. Team 7, Part II

**Act 2: Under the Guidance of a Scarecrow  
Chapter 10: Team 7 (II)  
**Updated on: 25 August, 2007

* * *

Sakura was the first to arrive, waiting by the small bridge over the river edging the boundary of the village. '_I hope I got the place right_,' Sakura prayed as she looked one last time at the handout given by Kakashi.

Sasuke arrived soon after, though classmates for many years, Sakura had little chance to talk with the lone wolf, as he was constantly surrounded by his fans, whom most of them happened to be avid anti-Sakura haters as well. Ino was one of the few who did not hate her, and the only one who Sakura could claim to be a close friend. Well, there was always Hinata, but she was too shy to get to know her well anyway, at least she's not a pro-Sasuke fan.

There was an awkward silent between them, and Sakura was surprised that it ended up _him_ breaking the silence, or at least he tried.

"Do you know what…?"

'Do you know what happened to Ino,' was what Sasuke wanted to say, but feeling awkward about the situation, Sasuke let the sentence died off halfway. The puzzled Sakura waited for the continuation of the sentence, but it never came.

Minutes passed before Naruto appeared onto the scene, again, awkward silence, Naruto did not feel comfortable standing so close to Sakura. It was not that he still blamed her for anything, but rather, he could not get the guilty feeling out of him. So, instead, Naruto tried to befriend the Uchiha kid.

"Yo!"

"What?" Sasuke coldly replied

"Aren't you pissed about that instructor of ours? Daring to fail us after we went through this much hardship to get our Genin rank! We should team up and pull a prank on him," Naruto said, while grinning silly.

"Funny, I don't remember seeing you in our class, and sharing our hardship."

"Riiight…," Naruto said, obviously stumped at how unfriendly Sasuke could be, so he moved on to Sakura instead.

"How about you, wanna' join me and do something funny to him?" Naruto suggested once again.

"Like what?" It did sound fun, a prank, on _their_ instructor that would be teaching them for _years_ to come, on a _Jounin_. Okay… Maybe it is not that funny after all_._ "I don't think we should."

"Wow, you two are make for each other, both of you are equally boring."

_"Naa, Ino likes him, I won't dare going near him. Unfortunately, not going near him will be problem now, since we are on the same team after all…"_

"Blah! I will do this alone!"

"Do what alone?"

"Aww!" Naruto jumped and faced the source of the voice, and it belonged to none other their instructor, squatting on the wooden railing of the bridge, reading a book? "_Hey! That book looks familiar, so you're a pervert like Jiraiya-sensei as well."_

"What's with that look, Naruto-kun?"

Sakura noticed that Naruto was giving off an unpleasant look at the book as well, and took a step forward to see the title of book, but Kakashi closed it, and stuffed it into his pocket before she could get the chance to do so.

"Anyway, let's start with our test."

**x**

"Okay, I believed you all read the handouts," Kakashi said, taking out two bells from a pocket, he continued, "Here are the two bells. Your task is to take these from me before noon, those who cannot get a bell by then will get no lunch. I'll not only tie you to one of these stumps, but I'll eat right in front of you as well."

_"So this is why he told us not to eat…"_

As if to emphasise on the point, their stomach gave off a synchronised symphony of stomach growling.

"You will need to get one bell, and there are only two, so one of you will definitely be tied to a stump. And that person who doesn't take a bell fails, so one of you will be sent back to the academy."

The three of them realised what was going on, at least one of them would fail, already in their eyes were showing a mix of worry and determination.

"You can even use your shuriken, you won't succeed unless you come at me with the intention to kill. On my mark, we will start." Kakashi observed his students one last time. "Start!"

With that, Kakashi disappeared into a puff of smoke right before their eyes.

With a unison thought, they all thought of the same thing at the same time. _"That's fast! So, this is what a Jounin level shinobi is like."_

With no time to spare, the three Genin disappeared from plain sight as well, leaping off in various directions into the thickness of the woods.

**x**

Kakashi sat on a large fallen tree trunk, reading the same book from before, he could not physically see any mistakes the Genins made, meaning, to the normal untrained eyes, they were completely invisible by now. _"At least they know the basic of hiding."_

Unexpectedly, Naruto leapt off from within the forest, landing right in front of him, in both his hands, a curved dagger each.

"Moron, what are you-"

Naruto wasted no time, as he dashed forward, his face unreadable of expressions and emotions, but his intention was clear. Once coming close in contact with Kakashi, he stabbed deep into his fresh with both daggers without hesitation, and realised too late that it was a trap as the body transformed with the effect of smoke into a log. Kakashi was now behind of Naruto, kneeling down, with the book cramped in his hands, he formed the seal of the tiger, with both index and middle fingers pointed upright. Naruto bared his teeth, trying to pull both daggers out of the log.

"Naruto! Watch out!" Sakura yelled, her cover blown, as she watched in horror as Kakashi prepared for a jutsu.

"Hidden Leaf Ancient Taijutsu Supreme Technique! A Thousand Years of Pain!"

Naruto literally exploded and disappeared into a pile of smoke the moment Kakashi completed his ultimate ass poke.

_"A clone? No! I felt something when my fingers came in contact… A Kage Bunshin? No… It's something else…"_

Both Sakura and Sasuke were thinking the same at this moment, and could not be help at the silliness of their teammate and instructor. This time, it was Sakura who was in danger, with her hiding place uncovered, Kakashi immediately threw two shuriken off at her direction.

Sasuke could not believe what he was doing, as he moved to save Sakura, his natural instinct told his body to push Sakura down onto the thickness of the woods as the two shuriken barely missed their target.

Taking her hand in his, he dragged off farther into the forest, "Fool! Quick, run! We must reorganise ourselves first."

"What about Naruto?" Sakura questioned.

Stopping after arriving at a same distance, he replied, "He's a-"

"What about me?" Naruto asked.

Both of them were surprised at how Naruto managed to catch up to them without been noticed, while Naruto was equally surprised that the two of them could find his hiding place just by randomly running around.

"Stupid! Why did you attack alone?"

"No harm done, I just want to test our instructor's reflexes."

Before Sasuke could further rebuke Naruto on his stupidity, Sakura cut him off by asking, "Was that a clone?"

Sasuke was asking the same thing himself, _"He did disappeared when attacked, but I could swear that the clone actually showed pain on his face right before he disappeared, not to mention I could have swear that there was something different about that Naruto we all witnessed."_

"No time for that, noon is approaching, and Kakashi-sensei is too powerful for us to handle individually, we will have to work together on this!"

_"Work together?"_ Despite been the lone wolf of the pack, the risk of failure this test of his idiotic sensei was too great. "Agreed."

"Work together?" Sakura asked, "Did you guys forget about something? That there are only _two_ bells? And _three_ of us?"

"Don't worry, if my guess is correct, the sensei of ours is testing us on teamwork, and not individual ability."

"So said the moron who attacked alone first," Sasuke mumbled on his breath.

"So, what's the plan, guys?" Sakura asked once more.

"Okay, here's the plan, Sasuke and I will distract Kakashi-sensei, while you go for the bells," Naruto calmly said, with his finger pointed towards the girl of their team, his tone of voice sounded as if it was a brilliant plan.

"We should know each other techniques, so that we may complement each other offensive moves," Sasuke suggested. Realising how true it was, Naruto told his teammates of the technique he used.

**x**

Sasuke laid down in position, he still could not get over the fact of what was just been told to him and Sakura. _"Could that kid really be capable of…"_ It was a scary thought, he thought that _he_ was good enough for a match against any Genin, now he finally understood that there would always be someone more powerful than yourself.

Their plan was simple, among the three, Sakura proved to be the physically weakest, and thus was given the task to steal the bells, _once_ both Sasuke and Naruto secured Kakashi. Naruto would use his technique to distract their target, while Sasuke would confront him from behind, hoping that would provide enough coverage for Sakura to sneak up behind him.

Naruto would attack first, they only had half an hour left, not enough time for them to recover from any failure.

**x**

Sakura was rather nervous, not only was she was the final decisive factor in whether they would be passing, she had no confident what-so-ever on committing a successful steal against a Jounin.

From her position, she could see the three Narutos approaching from one direction, that was what they were suppose to do, to make one hell of a distraction. All but one is armed, and for some reason, Sakura could tell out right which one of the three was the real Naruto, even if all were armed or unarmed. Sakura did not even have to use her chakra or jutsu to see the other two Narutos were simply giving off a soft glow from Sakura's perspective. Could it be that she could see through illusions? When did that happen, Sakura knew she did not had that ability before.

She forced herself to face away from the Narutos, setting her sight on Kakashi-sensei, their target, who was still reading that book of his. As the signal of the battle starting could be heard, Kakashi looked up from his book, and something happened, he glowed as well, a very soft and almost invisible glow.

_"Bunshin no Jutsu?!"_

**x**

Naruto arriving with his two summons, onto the battlefields, the remaining two of the Sword Brothers **(#1)**. The oldest of the three wield an impressive oversized sword, while the second brother handled one katana with great agility; both brothers were under the effect of Naruto's Henge illusion, hoping three Narutos might confuse their Jounin sensei enough to gain at least one successful hit.

The younger of the two, Gama Hasaki, attacked first, since his speed was much greater than his larger brother was. As the katana-wielding 'Naruto' approached fast towards his target, the other brother, Gama Heijin jumped upwards and lifted his blade over his head in an effort to bring it down in a killing stroke. Naruto reached for his shuriken as well, trying to attack from the back.

As the three Narutos attacked all at once, while their blades and shuriken were all almost coming into contact, a warning came from Sakura, shouting from the boundary of the clearing.

"He's a clone!"

**x**

_"That girl! She revealed her position, again!"_ Though it puzzled Sasuke as to how Sakura could figure that it was a clone before the attacks connected, true enough, Kakashi disappeared into another puff of smoke, making the Narutos to cough.

Suddenly, a huge net came from underneath the soft ground, seeking to trap all three Narutos, at that moment, Sasuke thought that Naruto was a goner, but was amazed to see the real Naruto somehow managed to twist his way out of the incoming net. The two other Narutos were not so unfortunate, as the sudden shock unravelled their illusions, revealing them back into two green toads; Gama Heijin could easily be twice the size of an adult, while Gama Hasaki was around the size of a young adult.

Naruto bit his fingers, drawing blood as he prepared an emergency jutsu to summon back the third toad, his hands pressed onto the ground, while he shouted the command, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu, Gama Kensaki!"

The third toad appeared without the illusion, proving to be a small green midget toad. Using his twin daggers, the summoned toad quickly wasted the net, cutting his brothers loose.

Naruto and his toads gathered into a tight circle, facing outwards, as if fallen into his trap was not good enough, Kakashi refused to reveal himself. "_What now?!"_

All of the sudden, the ground underneath Naruto and his toad allies broke away, throwing the four of them into a pit, fortunately for Naruto, the falling impact down a four meters drop fall against the ground was a lot less serious than he thought it would be, though the incoming weight of one overweight toad did the job. Knocked out cold by Gama Heijin, Naruto laid on the hard soil with his eyes crossed out, and stars floating around his head. Seeing their boss knocked unconscious by one of their own, the toads realised that they had overstay their visit, and promptly disappeared on their own will.

**x**

_"Stupid!"_

Learning from her past mistakes, Sakura was going to remove herself from the scene of the crime this time, wasting no time, she ran as she analysed the current situation.

_"Now that Naruto-kun is out of the game, Sasuke-kun is… still hidden, there may still be a chance. Since now that I'm revealed, maybe I should be the decoy instead, but will I be of any help?"_

Suddenly, Sakura crashed hard into something soft, "Ah!" The impact bounced her off her feet, landing hard on her backside. Sakura opened her eyes to see… a glowing Sasuke?

"Sakura! Come, Kakashi-sensei is looking for you now!"

Taking her hand, Sasuke picked her off her feet, letting her no time to question him.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura shouted as she ran, leaded off deeper into the forest by the boy. "Are you really Sasu- Ahh!"

A rope hidden among the fallen snapped tightly around one of her feet, dragging her upwards, realised that she had fallen into a trap, she looked ground-wards, at Kakashi-sensei.

_"Did she see through my Henge no Jutsu _**(#2)**_? Regardless, two down, one more to go."_

**x**

_"All the better… With the noisy Naruto out of the way, I will probably fight better than with him in the wa_y," it was the only comforting thought Sasuke could think of.

At least Sakura decided not to stay around this time, but that brought him back to square one. With Naruto defeated, and both Sakura and Kakashi missing from the scene, how was he going to complete the original plan?!

Calmly, Kakashi walked back into the scene, Sasuke could almost let out a sigh of relief, though it worried him that the Jounin just came out from the direction of Sakura's previous hiding place. Sasuke weighted upon the probability of Sakura surviving a Jounin assault. _"Nil."_

_"It's a one man mission now."_

Sasuke waited until Kakashi once again took out his book before he attacked, throwing six shuriken at one go, three attacking from the right, and the other three from the left. All of the throws were true, as the shuriken embedded themselves onto the face of his instructor, but Sasuke realised that the test was not over yet, as Kakashi once again turned into a log.

_"Damn! Another Kawarimi no Jutsu _**(#3)**_, from the shuriken I threw, he now knows my location as well. He showed an opening on purpose, pathetic, I fell for the trap!"_

All of the sudden, Kakashi dropped down from above, coming face to face with his student. Surprised, Sasuke leapt backwards, and threw three more shuriken, but the older Jounin dodged with ease.

"Such obvious attacks are pointless!"

Within the seconds while he dodged the shuriken, momentarily he lost Sasuke from his view of sight, suddenly he detected a presence appearing behind him. Just a few feet away, Sasuke emerged in mid-air, and delivered a kick towards the face. However, Kakashi blocked the kick with his left arm, then proceed to grab onto the attacking leg with his right arm. Not giving up, Sasuke threw a punch, while at the same time gave another kick with his free right leg. Kakashi managed to catch the punch with his left hand, but with both hands occupied, he could felt the second kick brushed him by the left cheek.

Sasuke used this chance to reach out for both bells that were tied to his belt, has his fingertips barely met the small bells, Kakashi pulled away.

"Just as expected from an Uchiha… Well, I will acknowledge that you are different from the other two. But you will not stand a chance against me without your teammates…"

Sasuke only smirked, as he performed his secret jutsu.

"Goukakyuu no Jutsu **(#4)**!"

_"What?! A Genin shouldn't have enough chakra to be able to use that jutsu!"_

Sasuke took in a deep breath, and exhaled all the flames that gathered from within, using his hand to direct the blast, a single explosion went off where Kakashi used to stand.

As the smoke cleared, Sasuke looked up and down for any indication of the presence of the Jounin. "_He's gone! To the side? No, above? Where?"_

"Below you, Shinjuu Zanshu no Jutsu **(#5)**!"

A hand burst out from underneath the ground, right next to Sasuke's feet, and dragged the Genin down underground, down right up to the neck.

**x**

The mood was gloom, as all three Genin remained tied to the tree trunks hammered down into the earth. Kakashi-sensei had retrieved all of them, both Naruto and Sakura did not offer much resistance, though he did have to knock Sasuke unconscious so that he could tie him to the stump.

Now that Naruto _finally_ woke up, Kakashi picked up one of the two lunch boxes and pretended to start eating (of course he could not since he got the mask on, and no way was he going to reveal his pretty face to his students, that's the point of having it hidden). Still unsure of what happened, Naruto looked around, to find himself tied next to Sakura and Sasuke, neither of them seemed very satisfy with the current situation.

"Well? Are we going to be tied here forever?" Naruto asked in an annoyed voice.

"Not forever, after I finished with my lunch here, then I will set you three free." Kakashi split the wooden chopsticks, and played around with it, all this time, not giving his students even a glance.

Sasuke did not show any emotion, but both Sakura and Naruto could get the drift, they face darkened with discontent, followed by a confirmation from Sakura, "Does that mean that mean that we failed?"

"Yup, you all passed."

All three Genins were surprised by the turn of events, they had expected the worst.

"But… why? We failed to get the bells!" Sakura questioned.

"The objective of the test is not on getting the bells, or even trying to get the bells with at least a moderately sounded plan. But rather, knowing the risk of the mission, seeing the underneath of the underneath, and knowing that in this world, no one can work alone." Putting the chopsticks aside, Kakashi continued, "I must admit, your plan was awful, there was no coordination, Sakura made too much noise, Naruto only know how to attack outright, and Sasuke did not attempt any rescues on Naruto or Sakura."

_"Sakura could see through my illusions, and both Naruto and Sasuke surprised me with what they know. They have great potential, yet all these unsettle me."_ Of course, those thoughts remained unspoken.

As Sakura and Naruto celebrated, the three of them realised too late Kakashi was walking away, once again taking out his book, his last words were, "Second unofficial duty, get out of those ropes yourselves."

_"The training starts now."_

* * *

**- Glossary - **

**#1 :: Sword Brothers** – Like other toads, the Sword Brothers allied themselves with Naruto, as according to the contract. The eldest of the three is Gama Heijin, wielding a six-foot-long broad sword; the second brother is Gama Hasaki, wielding a four-foot-long curved one-sided slashing blade; while the third is Gama Kensaki, wielding two three-foot daggers, the fastest but also the weakest of the three. Heijin means blade of the sword, Hasaki means edge of the sword, while Kensaki means tip of the sword.  
**#2 :: Henge no Jutsu** – Transformation Technique, an illusion to change the outer appearance of the target.  
**#3 :: Kawarimi no Jutsu** – Body Switch Technique, a ninjutsu technique used to replace the ninja's body with something nearby, like a log.  
**#4 :: Goukakyuu no Jutsu** – Powerful Fireball Technique.  
**#5 :: Shinjuu Zanshu no Jutsu** – Inner Decapitation Technique.


	11. Uchiha Sasuke, Part II

**Act 2: Under the Guidance of a Scarecrow  
Chapter 11: Uchiha Sasuke (II)**  
Updated on: 25 August, 2007

* * *

Sasuke left the training ground wearily, he spent the whole morning practicing throwing at wooden logs in the woods. These few days, Team 7 were assigned to so many mindless rank D missions that all three of them were getting pissed, Sakura had the most patience among them, but even she started to beg Kakashi for missions that yielded more fun than those that granted paper-cuts on their fingers or leaves in their hair.

So busy was Team 7 that they had not seen any other teams beside the waiting room to meet the Hokage, even so, they did not get to talk much, but even so, Sasuke could not help notice that Team 10 still had only two members, Shikamaru and Chouji.

Feeling bored, Sasuke eventually turned around, and walked in the direction of the village, all in this while questioned himself of Naruto's ability. He could feel strong steady chakra control from the loud kid, not to mention his summoning of the toads back then were quick and efficient, wasting no unnecessary stamina. Sasuke started to wonder how the battle could be like if the huge toad did not fall flat on its master.

Sakura was an enigma, he felt almost no chakra, simply because she was not given a single chance to fight back, but during the training and missions, her chakra release was rather impressive, something was strange though, but he could not place his hand on it. Sasuke tilted his brows, and started to walk faster, ignoring the fact that his stomach was growling from all this waiting.

The noise of people bargaining prices woke him up from his inner thoughts, he was back in the busy street of the Hidden Village once more, and had consciously walked found himself standing in front of the Yamanakas' flower shop.

The metal bars were down, there were no lights coming from within, had it not for a single tape tied from one end to the other, it would seem like a normal shop awaiting the opening hours. On the tape, wrote the word of 'Restricted' repeatedly.

Curious, and concerned, he went to the back alley of the shop, and leapt up into the second floor balcony. The window was locked, and there was no way for him to open it, the room was dark.

"Seeking a chance to peek at a young girl changing?"

The startled Sasuke almost slipped off the parapet of the balcony, quickly regaining his balance, he looked down, to see Kakashi standing there, his eyes still glued to the half-opened book in one of his hand.

Sasuke jumped down from above with ease, and walked up to his team instructor. "What are you doing here?" he asked.

"Normally, the one, who caught the suspicious-looking fellow, should be the one asking this question to the suspicious-looking fellow."

"None of your business," Sasuke replied, coldly, unemotionally, and as inhumanely as possible. Just as the Genin was about to walk away, Kakashi replaced the book where it should be, in front of his face. Half-reading it, the Jounin spoke, "The Yamanakas are found dead within this very building."

"What?!" Sasuke twirled around immediately.

"It was rather mess in there, the ANBU are still trying to get a count on the dead, the bodies were all cut up so badly, and a lot of body parts were missing here and there.

"How did this happen?"

"We don't know, this matter only came into my hands just minutes after we parted, and I believe we will have official words on this tomorrow."

**x**

There was no way he could sneak in the Yamanaka residence, so he went straight for the Hokage Tower instead, to get some info out of that old geezer. Leaping from rooftop to rooftop, he arrived at his destination, "Get out of my way, I'm here to see the Hokage."

Pushing his way through the guards, he ran, hoping to lose the Jounins chasing after him. But it was inevitable to capture, ever since Sakura's theft on the scroll, security around the place had heightened.

"Release him," the Hokage commanded, arriving just in time to save Sasuke from the guards. "Follow me, Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke did as he was told, and followed the Hokage into his chamber, "Hokage-sama, I want to know what happened in the Yamanakas."

The old man made a sigh, and said, "When Ino was not reporting to school for the past few days, the stand-in teacher was activated to investigate. As of now, we have a confirmed headcount on bodies."

**x**

Sasuke wandered around the village a bit, resisting the urge to visit the Yamanaka residence, or returning to the Uchiha compound. He needed a place to think of what happened, he started to recall what the Hokage said to him, "As of now, we have a confirmed headcount on bodies, further examination is needed, but for now, we have the bodies of the two adult Yamanakas."

As he passed by the Akimichi residence, there was an uproar in there, shouting all over, followed by a huge-size shinobi walking out of the building, followed closely by Chouji.

"Ahh, Sasuke-kun," Chouji said, as he noticed Sasuke outside his house. "Did you hear about the news…? Our dads have always been close, and I heard that the Nara household is very upset as well." It was a rather strange sight, Chouji without any bag of snack in his hands, his eyes were different as well, red and watery.

"Where are you and your father heading?"

"Dad wanted to learn more about the… um… incident, we are meeting up with Shikamaru and his dad, and then we will be going over to the Tower."

"Tell me of anything you learn," Sasuke requested.

"Will do that, Sasuke-kun, got to go now, see you later." With that, Chouji ran off after his father.

**x**

His legs took him to all sorts of places, wandering around, he was surprised to see Naruto, of all places, right in front of the Yamanaka family tombstone. **(#1)**

Naruto turned upon noticing the soft footsteps, "Oh, it's you, Sasuke-kun."

"So, you heard of the news?" Sasuke asked.

"Hmm? What news?"

"No, nothing," Sasuke replied. _"Looks like he didn't know after all, maybe I should let the teacher handle the announcing to the class instead."_

Sasuke watched as Naruto walked down the slope, back into the village. He looked at the tombstone, the word 'Yamanaka' craved onto the stone surface. He wondered if life was really so fragile?

Sasuke thought about Sakura all of the sudden, and left the graveyard as well, following soon after Naruto. He recalled Sakura always went to the hospital, to visit Iruka, perhaps she could be found there?

_"Why am I looking for Sakura?"_ Even though he asked himself the question, he could find no answer. Sakura was always hanging out with Ino, perhaps… Perhaps that she deserved to know what happened? Perhaps that she would know what happened?

He stopped short of entering the hospital, but instead, waited outside at the small park nearby. Minutes turned to hours before finally Sakura exited the building.

"Sasuke-kun, are you looking for me?" she asked.

"Ino's gone," Sasuke solemnly replied, there was almost no emotion in his statement.

"What… What?" Sakura stuttered.

"Ino may be dead, I thought that you should know," Sasuke replied once more.

"How… How did it happen?" Sakura could feel her knees going soft, as she swayed around unsteadily, she eventually found herself being supported by Sasuke.

Sasuke let Sakura rest on his side, as he supported her to the nearby park, they found a bench, and he let her sat down.

"What happened? Are you serious?" Sakura found her courage to ask for confirmation once again, desperately hoping that it was a prank of sort, except that not even Naruto would joke about this kind of matter.

"From what I know, someone broke in the Yamanakas a few days ago, possibly back when Ino first stopped coming to school, that gives us a week or so since…" Sakura was silent, causing Sasuke to look at her with concern. "Kakashi told me that it seems that they only found their… bodies maybe this morning or so, and that we will have official words on it probably tomorrow."

"Kakashi-sensei?"

"I don't think he's part of the investigation team, maybe just passing by." Sasuke recalled him meeting Kakashi, him with his book in hand, was he pretending not to care a bit at all, or was he hiding his worries about the situation in his book? Sasuke shook the thought away from his head, Sakura needed him now.

"Ino…," the girl said. _"When was the last time we met? Ino, is this how we are going to part?"_

**x**

Gentle hands stroked the feverish burning forehead of the young girl, the older lady did not know what to do, despite being the mistress of foretelling, she was never good with medicine, healing or herbs, and barely had the basic knowledge on dealing with illnesses or poison.

"Onii-chan," the young mumbled under her heavy breath.

Indeed, this girl, reminded Kagetsu very much of her brother, looking at Ino one last time, before taking off her Akatsuki robe, and wrapping the girl in it. Carrying the girl in her arms, Kagetsu headed towards the next nearest city, away from Konohagakure.

* * *

**#1 :: Family Tombstone** – In Japan, each family members share one tombstone.


	12. Uzumaki Naruto, Part II

**Act 2: Under the Guidance of a Scarecrow  
Chapter 12: Uzumaki Naruto (II)  
**Updated on: 4 October, 2010

* * *

_Four years ago…_

There was uneasiness between the two of them, summoned by the Third Hokage, Jiraiya, one of the Sennins **(#1)** stood before Naruto, son of his student. Jiraiya pondered on how much he looked like his parents, he got his father's appearance, but apparently, his mother's personality. Cold and unfriendly, always hiding his true self.

Sarutobi Hiruzen tried to break the silence, "Ahem," he said as he cleared his throat. "Naruto, from now on, you will be training the guidance of your father's mentor, Jiraiya-sensei."

"Yo kid," Jiraiya answered crudely. Knowing basically of what was going on, he returned as soon as he received the message.

Naruto merely frowned, folding his hands, he remained as he was.

"Come, kid, we have some training to do," Jiraiya said with a silly grin. "With me around, you will grow up to be a fine young man!"

Though not a man to show his feelings, he realised that he needed to in order to get closer to someone like Naruto, someone who had closed their heart, like his parents.

Offering his hand outstretch to Naruto, Naruto examined the hand, wondering if he should accept it, doing so meant that he agreed to be his student. The eight years old Naruto put his hand onto the bigger hand.

Hizashi Naruto left his home of eight years with Jiraiya, the Toad Hermit, without any sign of regret or hesitation. They left in the middle of the night when everyone was asleep except for the ever-watching guards who were already told to let them through.

"Teach me," Naruto said all of the sudden, it would be the first time he said anything since they left the village.

"That's what I am going to do," Jiraiya answered dryly.

"Teach me something useful," Naruto asked again.

Jiraiya thought about what he was going to say, and then decided not to say anything at all.

"Hey, sensei, teach me something good," Naruto insisted again, this time tugging his coat.

"Do you know the reason you are travelling with me? Besides training you?" Jiraiya asked without slowing down his pace, and so did Naruto, who did not think about it before answering back.

"I know, it's because I'm dangerous."

_"Did he know?"_ Not daring to look at Naruto straight in the eyes, Jiraiya continued walking, neither picking up the pace nor slowing down.

"Something is wrong with me, that's the reason I have the best trainers and isolated lessons."

Alarmed by what he said, Jiraiya quickly spoke up, "No, that's not it. You are not dangerous. Until that day comes when you have to make the decision, you are a potential hero as well. It's just that you are in danger right now."

"Then teach me something useful, to protect myself."

"I will, in due time, in the mean time, my task is to get you as far away as possible. When we settle down somewhere, I will teach you."

"I will take your words for it," Naruto nothing as he followed Jiraiya further away from home.

**x**

_Three years ago…_

"Bullshit," Naruto grumbled, sitting cross-legged in his room, waiting for the old man to return with the dinner. However, he knew all along why buying dinner was always taking so long, Naruto was not dumb, he figured out long ago that Jiraiya-sensei was always taking a detour, a certain detour around a certain red-light district.

Practising with the water balloon he had in his hands, he recalled of all those silly exercises he was made to do, walking on trees, floating on water, and now, playing with balloons! Ever since they left Konohagakure, the Pervert-nin as he came to call him, was doing nothing but playing a fool, occasionally teaching him some Genin basic, most of which he already knew, except for the balloon practice, which he had no clue what it was for.

For this past one year, the two of them had been travelling around, 'sightseeing', the older shinobi told him. And now, they pretty much ended up near the Fire Country's borders, a little more to the west, and they be ending up in the Grass Country.

"Blah!" Naruto yelled as he threw the water balloon onto the ground, letting it bounce a few times. "I'm going out to have some fun!"

Grabbing his money pouch, Naruto headed out of the inn, bidding goodbye to the innkeeper on his way out.

Arriving out on the streets, he marvelled on the carefree street life out there, in this strange village, which the locals dubbed as the Festival Village, there were all sorts of game and food stalls. Jiraiya-sensei once told him that the reason being so was that at the boundary of Fire Country, they received many visitors from outside the country, and eventually, this village accumulated all the foreign customs and festivals.

They had been staying here for almost two months now, a lot longer than they had in any other villages they previously visited. Because Naruto never went to the local school, it was hard for him to make any friends, because of this, he sometimes felt lonely in here, even with so much things happening around him.

After spending the next hour on games and winning prizes, he heard the complain coming off from his own stomach, growling loudly, he realised it was time for dinner, it's not like Jiraiya-sensei was going to be back any time soon. Running up to the stall selling takoyaki (octopus balls), Naruto suddenly crashed onto someone, landing hard on the pathway, he could have sworn that person purposely cut queue right in front of him, either that or he bumped him on purpose! As he grumbled angrily, that same person offered a gloved hand, offering his assistance. The hand felt had, as if it was an armoured gauntlet, yet why did he put a normal cloth glove over it?

Clad in a green cloak with hood, every inches of his body was hidden, his hands gloved, his feet in boots, and his face hidden within the shadow.

"Ah, thank you, mister!" Naruto quickly said as he immediately circled around the stranger to queue up at the stall again, but the stranger stepped sideway to cut him off again, obviously trying to mess around with him. Not in the mood to argue, he turned 180-degree to go to the next stall instead, but the stranger grabbed his hand instead.

Realising the stranger was out for him, he quickly kicked the stranger's leg, but retracted in pain as his sandaled foot did not protect him from whatever that leg was made of.

Jumping on one leg on the spot, Naruto mumbled curses, then whispering to the stranger while keeping his eyes on him, "What is it that you want?!"

"You are in danger, Hizashi Naruto, go and find your guardian and tell him that someone is coming for you."

Though hollowed, the voice did sound female.

"What?" Naruto questioned.

Spotting a candy stall beside them, the cloaked stranger dragged Naruto along with her. Picking up a candy of a snake, she handed it over to him. "Go to your guardian, and tell him that _this_ person is coming here, he will understand," she said while pointing at the snake candy in Naruto's hand. Letting go of his hand, the stranger dug into a pocket and threw a coin at the stall owner, and said her last warning before leaving, "Go now, Naruto."

As the stranger disappeared into the crowd, Naruto immediately turned, running towards the building with red flashy lanterns hanging out. Getting to Jiraiya was not a problem, getting him to pay attention was, but Jiraiya sobered up after Naruto kicked his ass once or twice soon enough, literally picking the boy up, the two of them returned to their inn to pack.

**x**

Since then, they had not stopped travelling. Naruto once asked him who this candy man was, but all Jiraiya said was that he could not risk a confrontation with that guy while having a disadvantage, mainly Naruto. Naruto understood what he meant, no matter how powerful Jiraiya-sensei was, as long as there was a potential bait or target like Naruto, he could not risk anything, not to mention his original mission was to protect him in the first place.

"Looks like I have to teach you something, so that you can protect yourself after all, Naruto," Jiraiya said all of the sudden.

"Really?! What jutsu?!" Naruto asked while jumping around.

"Hmmm, something useful, like summoning maybe," Jiraiya absentmindedly answered back.

"Yeah, yeah! Summoning sounds great!" Naruto shouted, he could not wait for the lesson to start.

_"He can find me with it, run away faster with it, can block attacks with it, hmm, maybe I really should teach him that in the first place rather than that Rasengan he refused to appreciate. Though, whether he is up to it is another matter, but then again, that brat doesn't even realise that all those basics I'm teaching him are really useful for training his stamina."_

"So, what's your creature?!" Naruto asked.

"Toad," Jiraiya answered.

"Toad…? Not anything cooler?" Naruto protested. "Well, it's kind of what I expected from a master pervert like yourself."

Jiraiya kind of expected that reply from Naruto, having travelled with the brat for a year, he almost knew him inside out, maybe more about him than he knew about himself.

"Why not a fox, or maybe even a snake?" Naruto asked. "They suit a sly person like you, more than toad."

"Do not look down at the toads, snakes may be highly offensive creatures, but that's all they do, while toads on the other hand are more adaptive to situation, there are all sorts of toad summons that you can use before, during, and even after a battle. Trust me on this, we can't go wrong with toads."

"Oh, really?" Naruto still sounded doubtful, that happened after being lied to so many times.

Jiraiya looked at Naruto's expression, and could not help thinking how simpleminded Naruto was. "We will start our lesson once we reach Grass Country."

"Grass Country?"

"I caught wind that a friend of mine is hanging out there, we can use her help."

**x**

_A few months later, Grass Country…_

"Naruto!"

Someone was calling out to him, but he could no longer tell who it was, nor able to feel anything at all. Everything around him felt muted, with his vision filled with golden sparks.

Someone shouted, "No, you can't approach him now!"

Was it Jiraiya, Tsunade or Shizune?

"Hakkotsu, we are retreating, this is getting out of hand! Hakkotsu, now!" came another voice.

Golden sparks no longer flood his visions, and it was beginning to feel dark and cold, and he could already taste the blood in his mouth. No longer able to stand, he fell over the countless disintegrating corpses of the snakes Orochimaru summoned. Voices drowned into the darkness, and before he lost consciousness, all he could make out was, "It's all right now, he managed to disengage his bloodline ability in time…"

It was very quiet now. Hizashi Naruto activated his bloodline ability, the Kyuushuuryoku, for the first time, and almost took along with him his own life.

**x**

_In another time, at another place, from another person…_

"Promise me that you will never use it again," a dying girl said, her breath was getting heavier by the second, and her words were getting harder to come out. She forced the body of her lover closer to her breasts, letting herself to be drowned in every scent of his.

The young man looked up, his face wet with tears, his cheek smeared with her blood. "I promise, just don't die!"

His words did not reach her, as her hands fell limp by the side. Holding her closer than ever, the young man wept for the lost.

Meanwhile, walking in from behind, taking a step at a time, Uzumaki Kimiko hesitantly placed her hand on his shoulder, trying to console Yondaime, her husband, but instead she fell to her knees and wrapped her arms around them, crying. For Hana.

**x**

_Present time…_

Naruto arrived at the tombstone of the Yamanakas, his eyes cold without feeling. Sitting on top of another tombstone, he stared at the Yamanaka family grave, as if he could find Mizuki by doing so. Throughout his trip back home to Konohagakure after his four years long journey with Jiraiya, he could not put behind the thought of questioning Mizuki about the truth, Naruto was dying to know how he was fitted in his grand plan, or whoever's grand plan, but now, he might never know. Only by waiting, could the mastermind show up again, and this time, Naruto sworn he would be ready for him.

Shuffling of footsteps told him it was time for him to go, standing up to prepare to leave, he turned at the last minute, just wondering who it might be. Though the footsteps belonged to the last person he expected to see in a cemetery, Uchiha Sasuke.

"Oh, it's you, Sasuke," he coldly asked.

"So, you heard of the news?" Sasuke asked him, his voice sounded different.

"Hmm? What news?" Naruto replied.

"No, nothing," Sasuke said.

* * *

**Act X: Parody**

** Chapter X: Pork**

_Few months ago…_

"Shizune-nee, no matter how many times you recount the purse, we are still short of cash…"

Holding the purse, the medical-cum-poison expert cocked her head at Naruto, the look on her face was so pitiful that it was getting increasingly hard not to laugh instead.

Sitting cross-legged on the soil like the others, Tsunade suddenly slam one palm onto the dirt between them, saying with a stern voice, "All right, Shizune, hand me Tonton!"

Tonton knew as much what was happening and hurriedly rushed behind Shizune, who promptly defended the pet, "No! You can't eat him!"

"We are going to share, just pass me the pork."

"I concur," Jiraiya said, nodding hard with his arms folded before him.

"No!"

"Look, Shizune, look how thin and famished Naruto-kun is. Even if you ignore the poor hungry me, please don't turn your back against young Naru-"

"No!"

"Shizu-"

"No!"

"I-"

"No!"

Enough with the commotion, Naruto got up and stood before the lonely campfire. "Why don't we just go and work for the money?"

Jaws dropped, and Shizune sighed at the futility of even trying to convince the two elderly.

"Look what you did to Naruto-kun, he's gone mad!" Tsunade cried realistically.

Jiraiya however maintained his joker face, saying, "Naruto-kun, what are you talking about? You know _we_-" Pulling Tsunade closer. "-_don't_ work."

"You never try!"

"This is enough, Jiraiya, I'm sick of the situation we had to challenge every single night, it's all your fault that we keep running out of food fund."

"So say the hag who begged us to lend her _our_ money the moment we met."

"If we didn't have to feed the two extra mouths, we-"

"Stopped!"

"What now, _Jii_-raiya?"

"Where's Shizune?"

Within the next few weeks, Jiraiya fled with Naruto on the pretext of enrolling the boy into Genin rank.

**x**

_Present time…_

Naruto gasped and shivered, those were some memories he did not want to relive ever again. Shaking his head to clear the thoughts, he did appreciate the teachings of Jiraiya and Tsunade, and even Shizune, but sometimes, he wondered if he would do better without them.


	13. Uchiha Ayu

Previously: Twelve years ago, a demon attacked the village and was sealed by the Hokage into the body of the young Sakura. Years passed and the son of the then-Hokage, Naruto, discovered the truth from an agent of Akatsuki, and attacked Sakura. Similarly, Sasuke witnessed his parent's death under the hand of his own brother. Now, the three of time joined Team 7 under the leadership of Kakashi

**Interlude: Uchiha Ayu  
**Updated on: 4 October, 2010

* * *

_Thirteen years ago, in the Uchiha district…_

"No one knows of the origin of the Uchiha clan, it is estimated that we first appeared around the time when the First Hokage first took over the leadership of our village. Though both the Hyuugas and ourselves know that we are an offshoot clan, neither of us truly know when we were first… created. Curiously, it was at that time that the Kages first appeared, each Kage took charge of a village in a region and has since then made the five villages as the strongest among our land."

The sun was setting, and the effect of the dying light could be seen within the room, neither adult chose to light any of the candles or lanterns, it was not as if the younger man was captivated by the older man's story, or that the older man was too weary to move, but it appeared that it was intentional, as if the meeting was not supposed to take place.

The younger Uchiha was noticeably huge with thick arms, his hair shoulder length full and combed nicely to the back. "This is not what I asked for," he replied, his voice was strong but humble, but within this firm voice was hiding impatience.

It was at this moment that the thin wooden frame of the door slid open abruptly, a young teenage girl of the age of thirteen appeared at the doorstep, who curiously spot three long ponytails, upon seeing the guest her grandfather was receiving blushed instantly for her blunder. "I am sorry, grandfather, I did not know you have a guest," the girl spoke as politely as she could before gently closing the door.

"It is all right, Ayu-kun," the older man replied. "We are about to finish here."

The younger man did not show any emotion, nor did he turn to acknowledge Ayu's presence or move to indicate he was about to leave.

"It is okay, please continue, I just wish to inform you that I am about to leave the house."

"Ah, I see, your babysitting job, that's tonight, am I right?" the old man enquired as he picked himself up slowly, and stretched his legs.

"Yes, but that's later, I'm meeting a friend first," Ayu said, her voice turning soft and she started smiling again.

"Ah, I see, that boy, then, please have a safe journey, Ayu-kun," the older Uchiha said as Ayu closed the door behind her, her light footsteps could be heard running towards main entrance of their modest manor. The way it sounded, it looked like her friend, was already there waiting for her.

"Youth, such a great thing to have, isn't it?" the older man spoke as he prepared to exit the room, though the guest did not show any suggestion of leaving just yet.

"Indeed," he said as he stood up, appearing having given up for the moment. "Thank you for your time, I will be leaving." Bending slightly, he bowed to the older man and walked towards the door.

"Whatever you are looking for, Massaki-san, don't," the older Uchiha said as the younger Uchiha closed the door behind him. **(#1)**

Whatever shock Massaki had on his face was quickly erased and turned into a smile. "Good night and thank you for your time, I will heed that advice."

**x**

_A few nights later…_

There was a slight drizzle in the cool night, it was a perfect time to laze around, but everything was nothing but tense with the situation that was happening here. Mask-clad ANBU agents surveyed the surroundings, with the ex-Hokage leading the investigation, and from a distance, a young girl from a major Uchiha house was crying in the rain, her face buried behind her hands, and next to her was the young Kakashi, comforting his long-time friend while not knowing what to say.

Behind Sarutobi Hiruzen, a pair of adults arrived to the crime scene, at which a new ANBU saluted to the man much younger than himself, it was the Fourth Hokage. While Hizashi Arashi was a familiar face to all, the girl beside him was no stranger to the elder Sandarime as well, Haruno Hana was her name. While the Hokage was in a custom designed red and white longcoat, the Haruno girl dressed like in standard shinobi wear with the green flak jacket, the only distinguish feature were the Haruno logo on her back and her 'Ametsuinken' katana strapped onto her back. Dropping the ranks and seniority aside, Sarutobi asked the two, "Interesting, just the two of you?"

Replying, Arashi said, "Kimiko **(#2)** is still asleep and kept kicking me from the bed when I tried to wake her, Hokage-sama. Besides, what is the situation?"

"You still call me that? You are now the new Hokage, at least have some respect for yourself. Anyway, we have just sealed off the location, the second victim was an Uchiha elder as well. We now have co-operations from the other Uchiha houses, Massaki himself volunteered in helping us in finding the culprit."

Looking over Sarutobi's shoulder, Hana noticed Kakashi and Ayu hiding under a shelter, and pointed it out to Arashi, who appeared uncomfortable knowing his own student ended up involved in this investigation.

"As far as I know, Hokages are not normally called out for this, tell me truthfully what is going on here."

Sarutobi thought things through for a while before speaking, "The thing is that both victims are elders within the Uchiha clan, and they both knew a great deal about a certain information we are very reluctant to let out."

"A certain information?" Hana asked.

"What is this killer after?"

"The elders and myself weren't planning to tell anyone this, not even you, as we felt that it might be better if this information was to die with us, but I'm afraid that this time there's no escaping from our duties this time. Come, there's someone who can tell you this better than I can."

Both Arashi and Hana appeared puzzled and worried, but said nothing as they allowed the Third to lead them away to another Uchiha household a few streets away. They entered unannounced as if expected, and eventually found their way to the private study room of a man named Uchiha Fugaku, the head of the entire Uchiha clan.

**x**

_Eight years later…_

"Sit," the older man commanded.

Obeying his father's order, Uchiha Itachi chose a position directly across his father.

Behind Itachi, Fugaku could detect the presence of his younger son being led away by an older girl. Ever since the Uchiha Murders eight years ago, Uchiha Ayu had been staying over at their house. Just like how she had babysat Itachi when he was younger, she was now helping out in looking over Sasuke while she was not out for mission with her only partner, Kakashi.

Uchiha Fugaku felt this scene familiar, it was only eight years ago when he told the same story to the Fourth Hokage and his partner. The older Uchiha then noticed that his son shifted in his sitting position, distracted by her voice, and smiled to himself.

Itachi had some idea what his father was about to tell him, only just this morning that he was promoted to lead his own ANBU team, and he was still thirteen years old, a little young for such achievement, not even the late Fourth became an ANBU captain that early in age.

After the death of the Fourth and his two companions seven years ago, those who knew their secret were dying out, even though the Third had felt that this information should rightfully be forgotten as intended, Fugaku felt wrong knowing such a heritage to be lost right in front of their eyes.

Thus his invitation to his elder son today, he felt that it was about time he tell him about the cause that started the Great Shinobi War twenty-seven years ago, the same reason why Uchiha Massaki had betrayed them and managed to kill all five Uchiha elders before being caught by the Fourth nine years ago, and why he suspected a great promising Sennin like Orochimaru would leave his own village eight years ago.

Itachi had no idea what was about to happen, neither did he realised that his father had trusted and believed in him so much that he would risk teaching Itachi the method of achieving Mangekyou Sharingan.

**x**

Itachi remained silent as he exited his father's room, his father explained that what he said within the room would remain in there. The Third Hokage had already decided to remove all existence of the Uchiha Secret, which was the only reason the Uchiha clan existed in the first place. By disobeying the command and passing on the role as the caretaker of the secret to Itachi, Fugaku could be removed if discovered.

The sudden appearance of Ayu from around the corner startled him. Almost breaking out into sweats, Itachi quickly calmed himself down, before returning an empty well-masked gaze back at her, almost casually smiling. Ever since her grandfather died, Ayu had been helping out a lot in the household, they had grown close to the older girl, Ayu could almost be like an older sister they never had, but Itachi rather not let her stay as just a sister.

"Itachi-kun," Ayu smiled as she called out his name. It unnerved Itachi to realise that he would always find her voice to have such a calming effect, especially when she called his name. It frightened him even more that she could influence him so much even though she thought of him as a mere younger brother.

"Ayu," Itachi greeted back, no honourific attached to her name, the way he everyday speak to her, it sounded like they were total stranger, but this was just how he masked his feeling. He knew his own feeling would be unreturned after all, Ayu was nine years older than he was, and the fact that she liked someone else did not help in the matter. Was that the reason why his father chose her? Was that his approval or his disapproval? It didn't matter anyway, he had after all already decided on the course he was taking.

"Itachi-nii-chan!" Sasuke called out to him as well. "What did father told you just now? Ayu-nee-chan said it was rude to eavesdrop on the conversation."

Itachi placed his hand on Sasuke's head as usual, saying, "It's nothing important, father is just telling me about the history of our clan." Though he disguised his nervousness well, he could not deny that right then, all he could think about was what his father told him.

"Come now, Sasuke-kun, you better not disturb your brother, he's a busy man now," Ayu said.

Itachi lifted one eyebrow in mild surprise, and looked at the taller girl with a slightly-curious look on his face.

"I heard that you joined ANBU," Ayu grinned widely as she posed a thumb-up in front of his face. "Good job!"

Before Itachi could say anything else, their mother appeared from around the corner with an apron around her, calling out to Ayu.

"Dear, you are going to be late for your mission," she called.

Itachi knew it was pointless to ask what mission she was going on, like all Jounins, she treated the mission's contents to be highly classified, but he asked anyway, wishing that he knew of any other way to stall her from leaving.

"It's a Rank A mission, it's top-secret," Ayu whispered into his left ear before leaving in a haste, meeting her partner, Hatake Kakashi.

**x**

_The next day, forest…_

"Rank A mission? I wonder…," the voice behind him spoke with jest, ever teasing, always twisting the facts with the lies. Itachi looked over his shoulder, annoyed by the fact that he managed to sneak up to him once again, and more irritated by the fact how he managed to overhear the conversation he had with Ayu yesterday.

Noon is high in the sky just as Itachi was practising in the forest alone, or so he thought before that old man announced his presence, the larger man walked up from behind Itachi, revealing himself from the covers of the canopy shadows.

Itachi knew of the man, but never trusted him. Sometimes, he appeared wearing a large straw hat covering most of his face, other times he had a bandana covering his eyes, regardless of what, his eyes were always hidden. That man never wore a forehead protector, but it did not take a genius for him to recognise who he was, even though the stranger had never acknowledged it, Itachi knew that Uchiha Massaki stood right behind him.

Massaki first appeared two months ago, and would occasionally pop out from nowhere always undetected, showing his vast knowledge of things happening around Itachi's life. Itachi understood the risk of meeting such a man like him, but he never reported Massaki's return to anyone. Itachi did not mind his visits, he wanted to find out of Massaki's intention and purpose of meeting him, however, ever since the meeting with his father, Itachi could easily deduce what it was that Massaki wanted.

Massaki had never promised him power or wealth, nor did he teach Itachi any special techniques, however, each time he appeared, he brought ill news and would often taunt him with the truth. Itachi allowed himself to be blanketed by the twisted truths, facts turned ugly by looking from just one narrow point of view. Every time Massaki reported to him the daily progress of the world, he would feel disgusted, not because the reports were twisted, but rather that because only a twisted man like Massaki could see it. Sometimes, Itachi agreed with him, though he never spoke of it.

"And what about it?" Itachi enquired, a reply to Massaki's first sentence just seconds ago when first he emerged from his hiding spot, interrupting of his practice.

"Rank A indeed, no doubt."

Itachi hated it when Massaki touched on the taboo subject, at times, Massaki would account of Ayu's daily life, as if he was there right beside her, breathing down her neck from morning to night. He would retell what he witnessed to Itachi, how Ayu had gone yet again one step away from him.

"No doubt about it," Massaki continued. "Certainly, what she is doing now could very well cause her to be expelled from her clan."

Itachi knew it was a trick, yet he could not resist the temptation, slowly turning around to face the older Uchiha, he asked, "What is happening?"

"Our friend Hatake Kakashi, has managed to convince Ayu to spy on your family."

"But why?"

"Kakashi believes that the Secret has something to do with his teacher's death."

"Yondaime? Hizashi Arashi?"

"Why else do you think Kakashi approaches Ayu? He has been plotting this since the very beginning, to get her trust, and to use her relationship with your family as a tool to extract the means…"

Itachi said nothing, tuning his head down, he stared at the grassy ground, he could see faintly of his own footprints. Taking a small step at a time, he started to retrace his steps back home.

**x**

_An hour away from her death…_

The place would be deserted, the master of the house had a business trip to the police station and would probably stay there till late night, the lady of the house had accompany him there, Itachi would be in his usual self-enforced practice session in the deeper parts of the woods, and Sasuke would be in school until late afternoon.

Sneaking in was as easy as just walking in through the front door, Ayu practically lived there anyway, bringing a friend over was nothing hide about. Except that their true motive of arriving here was none other than to ransack it, not for wealth but for secrets.

Just as Ayu was walking towards the study room, she turned and found her partner standing about, spacing out completely while on the job.

"Kakashi! Snap out of it! We don't have time for this," Ayu called out to him.

Looking back at her, Kakashi shook his head violently to clear his thoughts, putting back all the conspiracy theories he thought up back in the corner of his mind. "Let's do this."

Running ahead of the girl, Kakashi stopped a few feet away before turning around to find Ayu remained motionless since, as if it was now her turn to hesitate. Speaking to him, she asked, "Kakashi, I know that you are not really keen on going against the order of Hokage-sama, and that… this mission is nothing more than a curious girl seeking a truth within all these murders. Do you really want to go ahead?"

The Fourth Hokage… There was no doubt that he died sealing the demon seven years ago, but there were simply too much mysteries left untold, too much details left out from the records. Where and how did the Konohagakure Demon came about? Who did Arashi-sensei and his companions fought with, the battles that stole from him his love ones? Did his mission as a Hokage when Massaki killed all Uchiha Elders had anything to do with it? All Kakashi knew was that the Fourth Hokage was here before, and he was investigating something as well. Something that was too much of a danger to be written in the history book, a secret well kept by the Uchiha leaders, and the same secret that eventually claimed the lives of Haruno Hana and Uzumaki Kimiko.

"The secret which two generations of Hokages kept from us, the key to why Arashi-sensei died, this mission may perhaps be just as personal to me as to you. Let's go, Ayu."

Proceeding on with their plans, they moved right to the master study room, a place usually kept under lock even when Uchiha Fugaku was in there. Unlocking it was easy, Ayu had already previously secured a copy of the key almost a month ago. They entered the study room, the walls were lined with cupboards filled with books and scrolls, and the place actually looked more like a library than anything else.

The couple went on separated ways to search through opposite ends of the room, when Kakashi was still flipping through uninteresting records of Uchiha affairs, Ayu called him away to the table where a book was.

"A journal of some sort, more of a transcript, detailing a meeting he had with…," Ayu mumbled as she flipped the pages to reveal the name. "…the Fourth, eight years ago! Yesterday, he was having a talk with Itachi, he probably opened it to refer to it."

"What does it say?"

Ayu read on, but just as she was about to announce what she discovered, a shadow cast over the pages. The two of them looked up in surprise, and there at the door was Itachi glaring back at them.

"Eight years ago, Uchiha Massaki betrayed our village," Itachi started off before turning and walking out of the room, signalling them with one hand to follow him out. "He killed five of our Elders before being identified as the culprit. Even exposed, he continued his murderous spree, the event was coined Uchiha Murders, sometimes Uchiha Massacre. Eventually, he was blinded, but he escaped nevertheless," Itachi continued.

Looking at one another, Kakashi and Ayu picked themselves up from behind the table and obediently followed Itachi out to the hallway, there where they met a second Uchiha, one Ayu recognised.

"Uchiha Massaki…," Ayu muttered out softly, unbelieving what she was seeing standing next to Itachi. Kakashi caught her soft mumble and was dumbstruck for a second before recalling the picture of the exiled traitor, no doubt the man standing next to Itachi was Massaki!

"Massaki wanted to know the location of the _Forbidden Tomb_, a place only the Hokage would know," Itachi said. Massaki did not show any expression, he did not tell Itachi about the Tomb, but he guessed Itachi finding out about his intention was easy for a man like him.

Itachi threw a dart with an explosion charm attached to it without warning, and the blade flew passed Kakashi and Ayu, and pieced the book on the table behind them. Catching fire immediately, the sparks spread and ignited the other books and records in the room.

Itachi drew his blade from its sheath, causing the two of them to take a step back in the sudden turn of events.

"Wait, Itachi-kun, what are you doing? Why are you doing this?"

"There is no reason," Itachi answered, but it was a lie.

Ever since he was young, Fugaku had been expecting much from out of him. He was expected of the highest conduct, and was given of the best attention and training, Itachi had never questioned it. Everything happened because of this Tomb, from the killing of the Elders eight years ago, to the day when his father finally told him the way of achieving the birthright of the guardian. Fugaku asked him to kill a person he loved the most, the older Uchiha knew in Itachi's heart who that would be, and even named it before him.

'You have to kill Uchiha Ayu,' his father told him this yesterday.

Surely Fugaku once killed someone he loved as well to assume his current position, it could be a first lover, or a best friend, or even his father who Itachi knew went mysterious missing long before he was born. As confused as he was, Itachi expected to see sympathy or humanity in his father's eyes. Yet why was it when he looked into his father's eyes, he saw nothing but himself being reflected in his eyes. In his father's eyes, Itachi knew that Ayu was nothing more than a sacrificial lamb chosen by fate.

_"Would I too become as cold as my father, would I ask my son to murder someone who wishes to be with? Just so to uphold our family's tradition?"_

Itachi knew it was wrong, yet he nodded at his father's request. Itachi now knew of his new purpose that must be done. Not to protect the Forbidden Tomb, the single thing that they had been protecting for generations, the single thing that everyone would kill to find it, but he would rather destroy it, a blasphemy on this world that cursed the Uchiha household.

_"There would be no stopping of this unholy ritual unless someone stops it. Truth, honour and duty, as long as these remain, I will forever be bound to my fate."_

That was why Itachi now stood where he was, alongside with Massaki, it was not for power of the Forbidden Tomb, or the responsibility of protecting the Forbidden Tomb, it was to break the chain of destiny binding him.

Before Itachi realised it, the deed was done, his katana ran through Ayu's chest, crafting her petite body with a bloody rift. He witnessed as Ayu spun one round before falling into Kakashi's arms. Kakashi, who had already lost one eye from his fight with Massaki, was already oblivious to his presence, broken in spirit as his lover rested dying in his arms.

Ayu landed a kiss on his lips, waking him up from his denial. Opening his eyes, Kakashi had himself lying near-paralysed on the floor, he could only watch on as Ayu smiled ever so painfully, with blood smearing the left side of her face, facing him with only one eye.

Kakashi could briefly remember what happened, of how he was blinded in one eye, and how the attacker blinded him and how Ayu landed in his arms. Kakashi tried to move his left hand, to where his new eye was, where the evil villain destroyed his sight. Then it dawned on him that he could see with both eyes.

"Kakashi," Ayu smiled on as an expression of horror crept onto Kakashi's face, the pain was overwhelming, but her mind was at peace, as long as he was all right. "We were so close, aren't we? But it seems that the truth is heavier than we can bear, it's beyond our power to go against him."

His dried, cracked lips tried to form words, but he could not find the strength to do so.

"Hatake Kakashi, I know you very well, the more the truth is farther away from you, the more you seek it. Therefore, I'm giving you my Sharingan eye, perhaps it may help you. Avenge me, protect Konohagakure, and find the truth."

Itachi turned and left the room, he needed not see to know Ayu smiled only to Kakashi, her last smile would forever be lost to Itachi. Massaki was nowhere to be seen, though his presence could still be felt. As he approached the door, Itachi understood why Massaki hid himself, his father and mother stood there between the frames of the door. Though his father bore no expression, a sad smile was spotted on his mother's face. Itachi wondered how much they had witnessed, had they deduced already that he had already turned against them?

"You did well, my son," was Fugaku's last words as he fell to Itachi's katana, posing no resistance or struggle, with his new power awakening within him, he could feel Ayu's heart giving out.

His mother flinched briefly but prepared nevertheless for the punishment for her involvement in this. "Take care of yourself," his mother said as she slumped onto the floor dead, her blood painted the walls and ceiling, alongside with those from his father.

Sensing yet another presence, Itachi looked up from the mess he made only to find Sasuke paralysed with fear and bewilderment. Are the gods testing him again?

_"Why is he there? Shouldn't he be at school now?"_

Unlike his parents or Ayu, Itachi had no intention of cutting his little brother down.

_"I'm doing this for you, Sasuke."_

Itachi **(#3)** activated his Mangekyou Sharingan, and a new form of Sharingan took shape within his eyes' irises, and with them, he captured Sasuke in his mind. In a prison that lasted for days and weeks, Sasuke would die a hundred deaths, a death for each person he would kill today, a death for each stab he took in his heart for the sins he had or would commit. At the end of each death, Itachi would stand over the body of his little brother, peering down into his broken soul, and saying the same line over and over.

"The path I am on now is made by breaking the dreams and hopes of others, but I walked this path without regret, because this is what I truly desired, Sasuke. When it is time for you to choose, do not let others influence your objective. The end justifies the means."

By the time someone freed him from Itachi's prison, Sasuke had no idea how much time had passed. The ANBU in an animal mask asked him, "Are you okay?" But what was he to answer? He already felt numb to the pain in his heart, he looked beyond the ANBU kneeling in front of him and confirmed to himself of the death of his parents. He turned around and looked out onto the street, and it was littered with body parts and more blood.

An older man hurriedly hustled passed him, following another ANBU into a room deeper within the compound, there rested Kakashi, whose physical wounds were not as bad as it looked. The Hokage sighed, wondering how these could this have happened…

"Are you all right, boy?" the ANBU asked again. With his brother's words still ringing in his mind, Sasuke collapsed and allowed himself to be carried away.

* * *

**- Glossary -**

**#1 :: Uchiha Massaki** – Akatsuki number 4, his name means 'beginning', and true enough, he was the catalyst for the many events later.  
**#2 :: Kimiko** – Her name means 'noble' and 'child'.  
**#3 :: Uchiha Itachi** – Akatsuki number 6.


	14. Team 7, Part III

**Act 3: Entwining Fates  
Chapter 14: Team 7 (III)  
**Updated on: 1 September, 2007

* * *

The class assembled under orders without knowing what was going to happen, those who did were Shikamaru, Chouji, Sasuke, Sakura and all team instructors, but neither Shikamaru nor Chouji were around. For once, all students were unusually quiet, some were suspecting a bad news, some were already drawing up an idea to what was going to be announce, most of the girls that usually hanged out with Ino were unusually gloomy as well.

Sakura waited impatiently for the arrival of the Hokage, Sasuke made clear to her that he did not know the outcome of the search result, whether or not Ino was alive was still a mystery. Sasuke looked at his partner, seeing her unconsciously clutching both hands together while squeezing them tightly, he hoped he knew of some way to help Sakura out. Naruto was as clueless as usual.

The Hokage arrived a little before ten, the arranged meeting time, accompanied by a few Chuunins, academy teachers of this school. Putting the Hokage hat onto the desk in front of the classroom, he looked into the worried eyes of the children.

"Two days ago, we found the father and mother of Yamanaka Ino dead in their residence." Sarutobi paused for a moment, while the class went into either shock or uproar, knowing what were to come, he realised he hate this job of breaking the news out. "We determined their time of death to be around a week ago, as to why their bodies were not discovered until recently was because both the scent and the scene of the crime were given a proper treatment to prevent detection. As for their only daughter, Ino, her whereabouts is yet to be known. Team 10, their instructor, Sarutobi Asuma, Chouji and Shikamaru, and their fathers, Akimichi Chouza and Nara Shikato, volunteered themselves for the search of Ino. Already as we speak, the five of them are outside the village looking for clues."

The class were discussing among themselves, while the girls sitting in one corner started crying. Questions came flying around in an unorganised manner, asking of whether Ino would be saved, or rather it was all right for Shikamaru and Chouji to follow the three Jounins for this mission. Sarutobi tried to answer all questions, but there were still a lot of mysteries left about, like the question 'why?'

An hour passed since the session started, teams started to leave with their instructor, and eventually, only Team 7 were left, mainly because their Jounin instructor, Hatake Kakashi were still not here yet. But somehow, the three of them were glad of the few quiet moments they were allow to have, especially Sakura, who knew Ino the best. Naruto was feeling uneasy, and worried about Sakura, but not knowing what to say, he left his seat to look out the window.

Kakashi arrived eventually, and by then, Sakura had fallen asleep on Sasuke's numbed shoulder after experience a sleepless night.

"Sorry guys, I was involved with Ino-chan's investigate," Kakashi said, feeling guilty to have to use Ino as his excuse for being late.

"Why are you involved, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked as Sasuke tried to wake Sakura up.

"Since our team wasn't on any mission for a day, I was called in to help out to survey the surroundings for any hole in our defences," Kakashi said.

_"Telling Naruto about what we think about how Mizuki's deeds and Ino's kidnapper are related will only do more harm."_ Looking at the just awakened Sakura, he said to them, "Come on, I will treat you all to lunch, then we will proceed on with our mission."

Hearing the last part about him helping out, Sakura asked Kakashi about what he knew.

Just wanting to put their minds at ease, he told them that all team instructors, including himself were no longer involve with this case, as they were instructed to continue the Genin's education. So basically, he knew little else except for what was announced already.

**x**

The four of them arrived at the headquarters of Konohagakure, where they personally received missions from the Hokage himself. Because of the morning's events, there were more people waiting than usual, but eventually it was their turn.

Entering the spacious room, Kakashi reported their team number to the elders seated in the room, "Team 7 reporting, Hokage-sama."

Looking up from the list of today's teams and missions, Hokage spoke out their current score, "Six rank D missions within a week, not bad."

Naruto did not approve the 'not bad', the missions were too boring and belittled their abilities, but he did not voiced out his opinions, now was not the time to make a racket up of something so trivial. Naruto looked at his teammates at Sasuke did not eat much during lunch, and Sakura did not eat at all.

"Good, Team 7, I believe it's time you to move on to the next step," said the Hokage.

_"So he's toughening up the mission to prepare them for whatever that may come,"_ Kakashi believed.

"Team 7, come forward to receive your next mission," the Hokage said as he picked a small scroll up and put out his hand for the kids to take it.

Not aware of what were going on, the three of them walked up front to receive a small scroll. With the scroll in his hand, Sasuke called his teammates to stand closer as he opened it. Peeling the edge of the scroll off, the three of them started to read the mission, as Kakashi walked over to peek.

_Escort mission?_

"Tazuna-san, will you please come in," the Hokage called out.

The door creaked as it slide opened, entering an adult male in his forties to fifties, reeked of alcohol smell, with a bottle in hand.

Repeating what was already stated on the scroll, Tazuna introduced himself, "I am the super expert bridge builder, Tazuna. I expect you to provide me super protection until I get back to my country and complete the bridge."

**x**

As the five of them exited the village, Kakashi wandered a bit over to Sakura, and tapped on her shoulder. "Sorry about having to take up a mission on this day, Sakura-chan," Kakashi said with a straight face.

"It's okay, Kakashi-sensei, we already knew beforehand that we are receiving a new mission today," Sakura smiled as she replied back.

"Good," Kakashi simply said as he wandered off back into the lead, with Tazuna following closely behind him.

Glad that all of her team cared about her, Sakura accidentally stepped onto a puddle of water, splashing water all over her foot.

"Ahh…," Sakura complained softly, but even so, her cry was heard by her teammates.

Turning around, both Sasuke and Naruto wanted to see for themselves what were going on, disappointed that Sakura was only complaining about getting her foot wet, Sasuke frowned and continued walking. As Sakura laughed nervously, embarrassed for the commotion she was making, Naruto looked up at the cloudless sky **(#1)**, his face showing that something was going on inside his head.

As Sakura quickly skipped the remaining puddles of water to reach the two of them, Sasuke suddenly spun around with a kunai in hand, shouting to Sakura, "Watch out!"

Naruto realised just in time what was happening as a clawed right hand appeared from within the puddle of water closest to Sakura, and grabbed onto her foot. As the figure quickly materialised himself out of the water with his hand still on Sakura's foot, it caused Sakura to fall down on her face, yelling about in shock of what was happening.

"Ahh!" Sakura continued, now hanging upside from the attacker's clawed glove, her hands at her front, preventing her dress frontal flap from falling backwards.

Kakashi appeared in an instant even before Naruto could react, slashing the shinobi in half with his own kunai, turning the attacker into water. As Tazuna tumbled a few steps back, amazed of what just happened within such few seconds, unknowingly, he bumped onto the assassin instead.

Sakura, who was facing forward, was the first to notice. "Tazuna-san!"

The assassin raised his clawed left hand to Tazuna throat.

_"Left hand?"_ Sasuke thought to himself, it seemed that there were more than one assassin, and blindly moving towards to save Tazuna might just mean a trap for them.

The clawed assassin retract his hand as he yelled in pain, a kunai thrown by Kakashi hit true, and dug itself into the flesh of the assassin's weapon hand. Naruto dashed forward with one hand on the kunai while the other clutched into a fist, not caring at all that Tazuna was in the way. "Duck!" was the only warning he gave.

Tazuna dodged the attack in time, as Naruto punched the assassin, as he blocked the incoming left hand with his armed hand. Suddenly, a chain came out of nowhere from behind Naruto, the iron chain attached itself onto the left glove, and the assassin quickly bound a few times of the chain around Naruto's neck, then suddenly spun around to pull the other end of the chain towards him, thus also securing Naruto within the chain.

A second chain from another assassin shot fore from his right claw, Sasuke did not give them time to react as he quickly move to attack the assassin aiming at Tazuna. Sakura quickly ran forward to drag Tazuna back behind her.

While Naruto continued to struggle, trying to free himself from the chain bondage, Sasuke dodged the attack of the right-handed assassin, as soon as the chance he sought was there, he quickly threw a kunai at the chain. The kunai hit the chain, dragging it away from the right-handed assassin, embedding the chain deep into the truck of one tree.

Meanwhile, Naruto swung himself back then forward to deliver a kick to the face of the left-handed assassin. As the chain was pulled away from his left glove, Naruto was given a chance to break free when the chain loosen up, giving a punch with all his strength, he did an uppercut, crashing his knuckles against the chin of the assassin holding him. Tumbling backwards, Naruto freed himself and kicked the attacker one more than in the stomach just to make sure he stayed down for the remaining duration of the battle.

The other assassin with the right glove released the chain, and as he tried to escape back into the puddle of water, Kakashi appeared all of the sudden, using his right knee to deliver a kick upwards the unexpected assassin, knocking him breathless. Collapsing by the side of his comrade, Kakashi took a slow walk around the assassins and his students.

"The Demon Brothers of Hidden Mist," he remarked, "Not bad for Genins to defeat two Chuunins."

"What the hell?! You didn't help at all!" Sakura shouted, though not forgetting that she did little in this battle as well, she did not wish to bring that up into the argument.

"My apologies, Sakura-chan," Kakashi said, as he went to check on the panting Naruto and the spotless Sasuke. "The three of you did well."

For a brief moment, both Naruto and Sasuke were rivals once more, each marvelled at the other's combat ability, both not willing to give up.

* * *

**- Glossary -**

**#1 :: Puddles of water and sunny sky** – It was explained in the manga that the reason Kakashi detected the Demon Brothers was because they have been having sunny weather for the past few days, and so there should not be any puddles lying around. Here, Kakashi missed the puddles as he went to the back to talk to Sakura, so, both Naruto and Sasuke realised instead that something was wrong from the puddles, though Naruto was a bit slower to catch up.


	15. Momochi Zabuza

**Act 3: Entwining Fates  
Chapter 15: Momochi Zabuza  
**Updated on: 1 September, 2007

* * *

Dumping the two Mist-nins back at Konohagakure, the five of them set off again, the majority of them voted that they continued the mission, and thus did not return to see the Hokage in fear that the Hokage might revoke their right for this mission. Kakashi was surprised that both Naruto and Sasuke were so keen on continuing, even if Tazuna's story flared them up: using the shortage of money as a reason to use them, then told them that his daughter and grandson would be very sad if _they_ would to let him be killed by other assassins, to blackmail them. Sakura was really unsure of herself continuing this trip, the previous battle was conducted mainly by the two male Genins, not to mention she ended up making them difficult by being captured. Silently swearing to herself, she sworn that she would improve herself to match up to her teammates

**_"Really? To be better?"_**

A voice from her head came up, surprised Sakura enough to make her stop in her track, and since she was always the one lagging behind, no one noticed her stopping. There were already out of the forest with no one else beside them, and Sakura was certain the voice from within her brain, not to mention it sounded like her own voice.

"Sakura-chan," Kakashi called out from the front without turning around, nothing said other than her name. It was just him telling her to stop spacing out and get moving. Putting the thought of the weird voice aside, Sakura quickly caught up to the team. Sasuke and Naruto were puzzled about why Kakashi suddenly called out her name, thinking nothing about it, they ran after Sakura, who by then walked side-to-side with Kakashi, who was at the front.

As Tazuna continued explaining the current situation, Kakashi observed that the two kids, Sasuke and Naruto seemed to be setting a benchmark of each other on themselves, in simpler terms, there were silently competing.

"And so, you see, do you understand now why I am in so desperate need of help?" Tazuna pled, not realising none of the four shinobi were even listening, especially the two boys upfront who were competing who would walk the fastest. Eventually, Sakura joined it, turning it into a walking contest.

**x**

The motorboat rowed into the vicinity of Wave Country, including the boatman who was rowing the boat, they did not start up the motor since they did not want to be discovered, hoping the mist would hide them well. Sasuke did not like cowardly way of entering the country, but apparently, until the bridge was completed, the water way was the only way.

Thanking the boatman, Tazuna and the four Leaf-nins got off the small boat. Once the boat roared away, the five of them started off in the direction of Tazuna's house. Though nearer than ever to their destination, all of them knew that the next attack might not be from a Chuunin, but rather a highly skilled Jounin, with this in mind, the five of them advanced cautiously.

"Is all this fog common around here, Tazuna-san?" Sakura asked, as mists started to sneak in around them.

"It's… common for around this time of the year, but…," Tazuna replied, glancing around, as visibility started to drop beyond normal.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sasuke warned.

"Surround and protect, this will require full teamwork, don't play around, guys," Kakashi said, almost too casual.

The three Genins, each taking care of their own side of the misty field, soon surrounded the worried Tazuna.

Standing the closest to Kakashi, Naruto watched as Kakashi disappeared into the voice, despite so, his voice could still be heard clearly. "Don't move around too move, concentrate on your task, this guy's mine."

"Kirigankure no Jutsu **(#1)**," Sasuke warned to his left and right, "A jutsu used to create a thick mist, we are dealing with a Mist-nin here. Even standing at such close range, Sasuke could barely see Naruto and Sakura anymore. _"A mist this thick, how is he going to find us?"_

"Sasuke-kun…," Sakura whispered, "the water level… is rising **(#2)**!"

Startled, Sasuke realised as his feet felt a cool liquid slowly touching his toes and eventually rising upwards. _"Flooding the whole battleground with water? So, is this how he's going to find us? Each step we take will make a sound, even without moving, a skilled Jounin can detect our positions from the pattern of the ripples."_

Keeping a close eye on the degree of field before them, the Genins remained as steady as they could, but even so, they realised the older man they were protecting was turning about nervously on his feet, creating splashes everywhere he go. Before either one of them could warn Tazuna of what he was doing, suddenly, the sounds of blade crashing sounded all around them. As if battles were taking place all over the places, they could hear the distinct sounds of blades crashing in contact, and occasionally of thrown weapons hitting their targets.

This continued for half a minute, until the fog started to lift, staggering forward, Kakashi collapsed onto his knees, than further forward onto his face.

"Kakashi-sensei!" both Naruto and Sakura yelled at once, Sasuke could not believe their teacher would be defeated so soon, but it was too late to think about it.

As Sakura ran forward to the fallen Jounin, Sasuke yelled out another warning, "Get back to your position! The Mist-nin may still be around!"

Naruto followed after Sakura, trying to hold her back as Sasuke said, but all of the sudden, the mist started to thicken up again, almost immediately, Naruto lost sight of Sakura. Gasping in surprised, he turned just in time to see Sasuke and Tazuna slowly disappearing as well. Making a choice, Naruto ran after where he thought to be where he last saw Sakura.

Mumbling out a curse, Sasuke stood watch alone, with Tazuna worried about the two Genins that ran off, not realising the presence walking towards them from the back.

**x**

The mist was so thick that Sakura halted on her next step, she could barely see her own feet. Fearing shouting might attract unwanted attention, she tried to feel her way forwards to Kakashi-sensei.

Something glowing caught her eye, a soft green glow coming off a few feet away, in the shape of a man. Suddenly feeling an ache in the sides of her head, she clutched her forehead in one hand, while stretching fore the other, coming closer to the glow.

Suddenly tripping over something, Sakura tumbled forward, once on the floor, she quickly looked at what she tripped over. The opened eye of Kakashi stared deep into her heart, causing panic on tripping over the body of her teacher. Cupping her mouth from preventing her from screaming, she quickly crawled over to the Kakashi's side.

Shaking her sensei a few times on the shoulders, her head suddenly ached again. Just as memories of how she saw through illusions like Bunshins and Henge back during Kakashi's first test for them, a voice from within her head suddenly warned her, **_"Watch out!"_**

Sakura quickly flipped backwards away from the body, but suddenly, before she could put enough distance between herself and Kakashi, the previously diluted pupil returned to life, and grabbed hold onto Sakura's left leg.

"Leaving me alone… to die…?" Kakashi said as he used his left hand to push himself up, with his right hand still holding on tightly to Sakura.

Attempting to kick the fake Kakashi with her free leg, instead of blocking it, he picked her up upside-down and swung her around like a doll. Disorientated, Sakura did not resist as Kakashi pulled her face closer, Kakashi's face came close to the panicking Sakura. They were so close, that his heavy breathing could be felt upon Sakura's cheeks.

"Mizu Henge no Jutsu **(#3)**," Kakashi explained, his stare was creeping her out, so much as to that Sakura was barely paying attention to what he just said. "Using water to bend vision to create perfect solid illusion," she said, as her illusion crumbled like melting snow, revealing the masked face of a teenager around her age. "My name is Haku," she said as she plunged a dagger into Sakura's chest.

* * *

**- Glossary -**

**#1 :: Kirigakure no Jutsu **– Hidden Mist Technique, to cloak the area with heavy mist.  
**#2 :: Flooded Floor** – Another of my own creation, Afureru no Jutsu, Zabuza used it to flood the area using the water from around them.  
**#3 :: Mizu Henge no Jutsu** – Water Transformation Technique, a variation of the standard Henge no Jutsu, harder to detect since the illusion is based off water instead of chakra.

**- Author's Note -**

I changed Haku's gender for the simple reason that there're not enough female characters in "Naruto".


	16. Haku

**Act 3: Entwining Fates  
Chapter 16: Haku  
**Updated on: 1 September, 2007

* * *

Twisting the dagger further in, Sakura yelped at every slightest moment of the dagger, with her pleas for mercy echoing in the mist.

Each steps seemed to be moving him backward instead of forward. Shouting into the mist, Naruto called out for Sakura, regardless of the attention he might be attracting. "Sakura-chan!"

"Na… ru… to…"

Spinning around, trying to catch the voice once again, he aimlessly wandered, hoping to find her.

"Na… ru…"

The voice called out again, this time, fainter than before! The mist cleared for a short while, as he finally saw the dying Sakura, lying on the concrete floor, one hand clutching the dagger still rooted in her flesh, the other trying to reach out to him.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto shouted as he ran forward to hold Sakura in his hands.

"Her last word, was your name, Naruto-_kun_, she called for you, now go meet her," Sakura whispered.

"Huh?" Naruto simply said, stumped.

"Die with me, Naruto-kun."

Putting her other hand on the hilt of the dagger, she let go of the first hand, which turned out to be merely grasping the blade of the dagger. Turning the weapon around, Haku prepared to feed his boy's flesh to her already bloodied blade.

**x**

_Six years ago…_

Haku followed a few steps behind Zabuza, for each step he took, she took two, running to cover the distance between them, she constantly rubbed her hands against the woollen scarf handed to her just moments ago. The woollen material brought warm even to the cold metal slave collar she still had on her neck.

At first, she was unwilling to follow the stranger, she knew of how ugly looking man like Zabuza would always kidnap small girls for some unspeakable evil. But it was her only choice back then, she would have die if she do not find a shelter soon under such threatening weather. Flipping the fallen end of the scarf back over her shoulder, Haku looked at the back of the huge man leading her. Wearing thick clothing, walking through the street, he seemed to carry a powerful presence with him, people stood aside as they feared his presence, and Haku admired such corrupted form of authority.

Without saying a word, Zabuza entered a building, and Haku recognised this building, it was after all, a place she was almost sold into. Picking her courage up, she quickly entered the pleasure house, running through the silken curtains separating the poor and the rich. Even at winter, she was surprised to find the place warm, candles and special incenses burning to keep the body warm and the mind drowsy.

_"What are we doing in here?"_

Climbing the stairs, she evaded the stares of the curious, at the top of the stairs, Zabuza turned to face her, simply raising a hand, indicating for her to follow him in. Passing by the two guards by the doors, Haku almost choked on the thick smoke coming off from the smoking pipes held in the hands of several nubile ladies in different states of undress. Surprised by what was around her, of laughing and flirting, Haku quickly hid herself behind Zabuza.

Zabuza glanced back at Haku for a while, before detaching himself from the girl, moving forward to the other end of the room filled with different forms of artworks, from painting to sculptures. Zabuza came before a small series of steps and a huge seat with a tall skinny man with a couple of young ladies by his side, and kneeled down with his head bowed. Haku followed closely, and Zabuza placed his hand on her head, forcing her to kneel down by his sides.

Finally noticing of their presences, the man shooed away his companions, tossing his pipe to one side, he glanced with both his sleepy eyes at his visitors.

"Well? How is the task?" he questioned, as he ran though his dirty hair with his fingers.

"It is done, my lord," Zabuza reported.

Trying to peek at the drugged man, Zabuza quickly forced her head down to face the floor again.

"Good, good, leave me," he said, before waving his hands about, welcoming the warm of the ladies back to his sides.

Standing up, Zabuza picked up the confused Haku by the collar, and carried her out in the manner, from the room to down the stairs, and eventually out of the building. Turning into an alley, Zabuza dropped Haku onto the snowy floor.

"Do you know who that is?" Zabuza answered her.

Shaking her head, Zabuza answered his own question.

"You should be honoured, to be in the presence of the most powerful man in the Wave Country."

_"Most powerful…? The feudal lord?"_

"That drunken and dazed person," pointing a thumb back in the direction of the pleasure house, "is Mizukage, he's more powerful than the feudal lord, and controls the armies of the Wave Country. But he's so drugged now, he didn't even notice you beside me," Zabuza calmly said.

"And… what does he got to do with me…?" Haku asked.

"Right here, right now, you are given a choice. Work with me, for me, and together, we can bring down the corrupted Mizukage, did you see how he enjoyed while the winter storms brought down houses? What did he do, but to drink and smoke? The Wave Country… deserves a better ruler."

"And the other choice…?" Haku asked softly.

"I will cut your tongue out, and sell you to that pleasure house, you will be warm, and safe there, and always be in company of men who will care for you," Zabuza said with a straight face.

Forcing down the saliva stuck in her throat, her hands nervously fingering around. Suddenly, her hands clamped into two tight fists, staring back determinedly into his eyes, Haku told him her decision.

Smiling, Zabuza continued, "From now on, you are never to cry or show your fear before anyone, including yourself. I will train you to be the best kunoichi this country will ever see, and together, we can bring down Mizukage, and his pet feudal lord. Don't every shed a single tear anymore, even if the one you love is about to die before your very eyes, because people will make use of this weakness to work against you."

**x**

_Two years ago…_

"Happy birthday, Zabuza-sama!" Haku screamed at the top of her voice, probably the only time anyone could see her acting as such.

Zabuza's eyes snapped wide opened as he watched in shock of her wearing her new attire, Haku had dropped her usual costume, in favoured of a feminine flowery kimono, with a fold-up fan in one hand, the other stuffs trying to arrange her hair in place.

Though one could not deny that Haku had her childish charm, but she looked ridiculous in an adult kimono with matching overflowing sleeves, not to mention with makeup to boot. Her hair was swirled up into a bundle, held together by a single hairpin, possibly to imitate some idol she saw somewhere before.

Alone with the rundown room, in where the two of them had been hiding, since their fail attempt in assassinating the Mizukage. Zabuza was cooking something up for the two of them, but Haku suddenly dragged him out, and insisted him to wait at the living room for something, meanwhile running off into her room. Then she came out, wearing _that_, Zabuza wondered if it was just a Mizu Henge no Jutsu, something which Haku was terrifying good at.

Trying to act stern about something she did while trying to force down his laughter at her ridiculous makeover. _She was just trying to cheer me up._ "What's with that attire!"

Sticking her tongue out a little, she threw herself at her teacher, forcing him to catch her before either of them fall.

"Happy birthday, Zabuza-sama," Haku repeated smiling.

"It's not my birthday," Zabuza simply said.

"You don't know for sure! You told me you don't remember your birthday, and for all we know, it might be today! And also, since I don't know mine as well, let's make today's as mine as well! How about that, Zabuza-sama?"

"You don't have to do all these just for me."

Disappointed at his reply, Haku pouted, pushing Zabuza away, she jumped down from his hold. "Like I care," Haku said, turning a 180 degree to face away from him, pretending to be mad with her arms folded up.

"It's not your fault," Zabuza said, honest to his feelings.

Letting her arms to fall by her sides, Haku turned silent.

"Had I been more careful, you would not have to make a choice back then, to save me, to forsake the one chance to kill the Mizukage…"

"Fool! I will not accept your behaviour, to lose yourself in the past!" Taking slow steady steps towards the girl, he placed his hands on her head, unconsciously playing with her hairdo. "Be yourself again, I still need you. Tomorrow, we will head out to Gatou's, he will be our new employer for the time being, be prepared by then."

"Yes, sir," Haku said with her back still facing him, with his hand still messing around with her hair. Putting her hands on his, she wished that they might be like this just for a little bit while longer.

**x**

_Present…_

"It's not the time to be going easy on me, Fake-Sakura-chan," Naruto said with dead-serious calmness, his eyes showing anger, his lips cracking to a smirk. Using his left forearm, he blocked Haku's dagger-swinging hand, followed by twisting his legs up to his body, and delivered a kick, catapulting Haku away from him.

Shaking her head a few times as she landed gracefully on her feet, she cursed herself for losing concentration, she almost got him. Haku wondered why she suddenly remembered about those times they had.

"Drop the disguise!" Naruto shouted again as he pushed himself onto his feet once more, making Haku realised that she was still in the form of the pink-headed girl she killed just now. Suddenly feeling unease about something, Haku summoned back the fog, and stepped back into it, easily losing the blond kid.

Turning to run, she tried to detect the presence of the two fighting Jounins, but instead, found herself bumping righting into the third Genin.

"Sakura!" Sasuke shouted in surprised that she could hide her presence so well from him, pulling back his weapon, Sasuke placed one hand on her shoulder.

_"The target!" _Haku thought, as she saw the older man standing behind the black-headed Genin. Taking out the dagger once more, Sasuke retracted his hand in surprised at the same time on feeling the cold snowy feeling of Sakura's skin.

"Sasuke, watch out!" the real Sakura warned from behind. Appearing from the back, Sakura limped into the scene, with one hand pressing hard against her wound.

_"How could she survive from that?! She should be dead!"_

All of the sudden, another presence made himself know, coming from the back, he dashed and crashed onto Haku's back with his shoulder, causing her to drop her dagger, the sound of the blade dropping into the foot high water could be heard. Now surrounded, Haku wondered if she was able to be dispose off by three Genins and an old man.

_"Never again shall I impose any more trouble onto Zabuza-sama!"_


	17. Haruno Sakura, Part II

**Act 3: Entwining Fates  
Chapter 17: Haruno Sakura (II)  
**Updated on: 1 September, 2007

* * *

_Running ever so slowly, the pink-headed Genin struggled in time to meet up with her friend. Dodging the adults travelling the streets, she found the kid in the distance, waiting patiently, seeing her, the blond Genin waved at her with an eager smile._

"Uzumaki… Naruto?" Sakura asked as she opened her eyes, her legs wobbly as if all strength had been drained from her. "What… was that dream? It felt distance, as if it was someone else's dream…"

Still in a daze, Sakura held her aching forehead with one hand, while her hand supported her whole body as she fell forward. Resting against the thick iron bars, she glanced around, surveying the new surrounding. The whole place looked like she was in some sort of an underground sewer, with walls that rounded up to the ceiling, and slightly flooded flooring.

"How did I… get here?" Turning around to examine the bars she was lying against, tracing the length of the bar, turning her head upwards, and realising the bars were part of a gigantic gate or prison, with a single talisman stuck in front of it.

"Seal?" Sakura read out in a whisper.

**"Seal?"**

Surprised at the echo, Sakura fell backwards onto her butt, splashing water all over.

"Who's… there?"

**"Who's… there?"** the 'echo' asked.

It was no echo, someone indeed spoke back to her, somewhere beyond that gate!

Gulping her fear back down the throat, Sakura asked the voice, "Who are you?!"

**"Who are you?!"** the voice screamed back.

"I'm Ha- Haruno Sakura… Wh- Who are you?" Sakura asked back as she stood up again.

**"Come… closer, Haru… no, Saku… ra,"** the voice requested. **"Come closer… to the bars, where I… can see you, Haruno… _Sakura_."**

Taking one step at a time, Sakura walked up to the gate, up until she realised that she could feel breathing down her neck. As her eyes adapted themselves to the darkness, a pair of huge green eyes looked back at her.

Footsteps then came followed after, the ground shook as the monster beyond the gate took one slow step at a time. But strangely, instead of the breathing noise getting louder, or the eyes getting nearer, instead both diminished with each footstep. Until Sakura finally saw for herself what was beyond the gate.

**"Hello, who's there?"** the one from the other side asked, walking towards her, until only the bars separated the two of them

From head to toes, Sakura examined, realising that the one trapped on the other side was looking exactly the same as she was.

**"I'm Haruno Sakura, nice to meet you,"** the other Sakura said smiling, putting her hands behind her back, she rocked a bit on the heel of her soles.

**x**

Haruno Sakura awoke back at the battlefield, lying wet on the flooded floor, she remembered clearly of her dream, of the other Sakura. Picking herself up off the ground, she felt a sudden pain at her chest, clutching it, she looked at her torn dress, showing part of her naked flesh. On examining closer, besides the cut dress, and the blood strain, her flesh simply showed a small cut wound. Strange, that was not how she remembered when the fake Kakashi stabbed her.

"Drop the disguise!" Naruto shouted in the distance, turning her head to the source, she quickly picked up her pace, running straight towards it. With only the slight sting she felt on her chest, she ran as soon as she could, until a shadowy outlines of an adult, then a child could be seen.

_"Sasuke-kun! Tazuna-san!"_

Another figure ran and bumped onto the two. "_Naruto?"_ Sakura questioned herself. But as she came closer, the third figure revealed to be another Sakura.

Momentarily confused, she suddenly remembered the Henge ability of the assassin, Sakura shouted out a warning, "Sasuke, watch out!" Hearing the warning, all three of them turned to find the real Sakura running towards them.

Naruto jumped from within the fog, crashing onto the fake Sakura, causing the assassin to drop her weapon. Sasuke quickly realised what was happening, and together with Naruto and the panting Sakura, they surrounded the fake Sakura.

Looking about angrily, the second Sakura quickly smiled devilishly as water vapours suddenly formed down from her fingertips, dripping down, before either of them could figure out what was going to happen, the water froze into ice, forming extensions to her nails, becoming sharp ice claws. **(#1)**

Without giving any chances, Sasuke immediately formed the seals of Goukakyuu no Jutsu, but faster than he imagined her to be, she dodged sideway before he could even start up the jutsu. Squatting down, she delivered a 360-degree spinning kick, sending all three of them to the floor.

Flipping over to Sakura's side, Haku yelled as she aimed for Sakura's neck, "I will finish off with you first!" Unexpectedly, the old man, Tazuna, suddenly dashed forward, swinging around a steel pipe, yelling some unintelligent curses, he tried to hit the Mist-nin with it.

Not expecting to the old man himself to chip in into the fight, Haku had accidentally let her guard down on seeing all three Genins on the ground. The sharp end of the rusted steel pipe cut her hands as she shielded her face and body from it, losing the concentration to maintain her claws, the ice melted, leaving her unarmed.

Sasuke immediately threw a kunai at her, but she rapidly reclaimed her composure and summoned more mist to hide herself. Naruto slid over to her left and swung kicked across to her right, knocking her down onto the floor. Sakura then placed a kunai before her throat, daring her to make the next move. Swallowing her pride, Haku relaxed her tensed muscles, putting on a smile, pretending to be surrendering.

_"Bastard brats, when I get- Grr!"_

Haku yelped in pain as she was knocked unconscious by Naruto, her Mizu Henge dissolving right before them, they saw for the first time of Haku's appearance. Donning a Hunter-nin mask with the mark of Hidden Mist on it and a simple grey and white attire, her identity remained a mystery to them.

"What should we do with her?" Naruto asked. Eventually Sakura took her up and leant the unconscious Haku on her shoulder. "You are taking her along?"

"Better than to let her wake up, I doubt tying her will do with her claws," Sasuke agreed with Sakura's decision.

"Hehe, I did great eh, kids?" Tazuna smiled silly, pointing to himself with one hand, while the other still gripping tightly around the steel pipe, probably could not release it due to his hands were numbed from holding it too tightly.

Giving a weak smile, Sakura quickly ignored Tazuna like Sasuke and Naruto did. Not wasting any time, Sasuke waved, prompting them to follow him, into the thickness of the fog. Grumbling something about why should he follow Sasuke, Naruto followed them into the fog last after seeing both Sakura and Tazuna disappeared into the fog without question.

* * *

**- Glossary -**

**#1 :: Sharp Ice Claws** – A technique of my own, I nicknamed it Koori Tsume no Jutsu, also known as Ice Claws Technique.


	18. Momochi Zabuza, Part II

**Act 3: Entwining Fates  
Chapter 18: Momochi Zabuza (II)  
**Updated on: 1 September, 2007

* * *

Neither of the two expected the battle to drag on for so long, Momochi Zabuza, with his silent techniques, came close to shaving Hatake Kakashi's head off with his blade. But eventually, the Missing-Mist-nin was forced to making more head-on attack, using his water-style jutsu projectile attacks like Suiryuudan no Jutsu **(#1)**, otherwise simply known as the Water Dragon Missile Technique.

Unfortunately for Zabuza, the attack turned against him, as Kakashi revealed his single Sharingan eye, and copied Suiryuudan no Jutsu, but who was to say that the Copy-nin did not copy the jutsu from another Mist-nin before his encounter with Zabuza, he was after all the shinobi who copied hundreds of jutsu.

It seemed that all the excitement of meeting up with such a worthy foe, had made Zabuza forgot about just merely distracting them while Haku went for the kill.

As the two battled on, the sudden sight of Haku appearing unconscious, supported by a young Genin both angered and worried him. It seemed to him that somehow, Haku failed in her attack, and was caught instead.

Releasing his concentration on Kakashi, Zabuza quickly turned to focus on the three Genins, Haku and Tazuna. Wielding his gigantic blade, Kubikiri Houcho **(#2)**, with ease in the direction of the Genins, Zabuza dashed forward, not caring of whether or not his back was facing Kakashi or not.

The Genins looked in surprised as Zabuza suddenly erupted from the fog, giving both Sakura and Naruto got a nasty shock, with Sakura almost slipping her hold on Haku. As Sasuke tried to defend their position, Tazuna failed to notice the attacker's presence due to the dense fog.

Zabuza swung the sword down, aiming for Tazuna, with the lone Sasuke standing before him. He cast a brief glance towards one side where the female Genin and Haku was, and then to the other, where the brightly clothed boy was drawing his weapon.

Suddenly, Kakashi appeared from the side, sliding in so fast, none of the three Genins could catch his movement. Coming in, intercepting the path of the downward stroke of the sword, he tried to block it with his hands.

The short and brief yell of pain from Kakashi paralysed everyone behind him, as Sasuke appeared shock as Kakashi fell in front of them. As blood spilled out from Kakashi's wounds, Sasuke noticed that Kakashi's shield against the attack was not rushed, as it seemed that when he blocked the blade, he also threw several kunai at the Zabuza's unprotected chest. Stunned, but not letting up, Zabuza quickly raised his blade for another shot, realising there was his chance, Sasuke quickly formed the seal of a flame-type jutsu, Goukakyuu no Jutsu.

Surprisingly, as the fireball started to form within in palms, Zabuza continued to swing the sword downwards at them. As the fireball left Sasuke, Zabuza twisted a little, and batted the fireball straight back at Sasuke with the flat of the sword.

Blasted by his own jutsu, Sasuke was knocked backwards, crashing onto Tazuna, who tried to catch the falling kid. As Sakura ran over to Sasuke side, Zabuza turned to pick up Haku, who Sakura left on the floor. Baring his back towards Naruto, Zabuza spun around just in time to see Naruto in mid-air, apparently planning to deliver a kick at him.

Merely ducking to pick up Haku, Naruto went over Zabuza, and crushed onto the other side of the battlefield. With one hand on Haku, and the other on his blade, Zabuza cursed, as Kakashi rose, hands bloodied and injured, but still posing a threat. Realising the battle was far from over for the two of them, Zabuza considered getting Tazuna before escaping, but that would meet exposing his back to Kakashi, choosing to retreat, the Mist-nin ran off in one direction.

Naruto picked himself up, and looked off in the direction of Zabuza's escape route, he glanced over to his left, to see Sakura supporting Sasuke up, while, over at this right, he saw Kakashi falling backwards into the water.

Soon, the fog thinned, and the water subsided, as all four of them crowded over the fallen Kakashi.

**x**

Gatou stomped in Zabuza's room angrily, and making a hell lot of noise, as Haku was roused from her sleep, she opened her eyes to see Zabuza standing by the bed, ignoring the presence of their contractor. As Gatou's rant on Zabuza's uselessness on dealing with just one Jounin, Haku tried to rise up from the bed to protest, but Zabuza merely placed one huge hand on her forehead, pushing her head back down onto the pillow.

It took quite a well for Gatou to leave them in peace, but when he did, Haku quickly stood up to check on Zabuza, though having no recollection on what happened, she more of less figured out by Gatou's treatment towards them.

"Zabuza-sama…," Haku started, afraid to finish her question of how the battle ended. Or rather, she was afraid to hear that he saved her again, knowing herself that was probably the reason of all this commotion raised by Gatou.

"It's okay, Haku, the next time, we will get them all, all five of them," Zabuza said as he slumped down onto the seat by the bed, not looking at her, but rather over the bed to the outside through the window, anticipating for the next battle with Hatake Kakashi. It pained Haku to see Zabuza exhausted, and defeated because of her, not daring to face Zabuza, she faced the window as well, also awaiting for the next meeting with the Leaf Genins.

_"That girl, she survived my attack… And that boy as well, that Naruto... I shall…"_

* * *

**- Glossary -**

**#1 :: Suiryuudan no Jutsu** – Water Dragon Blast Technique, a powerful water-type ninjutsu, whereby a dragon-like water blast is created to attack, requires a lot of water.  
**#2 :: Kubikiri Houcho** – The sword used by Momochi Zabuza, meant for chopping people's head off, Kagetsu would love this blade.

**- Author's Note -**

Many thanks to those who encouraged me in my reviews, I know my story isn't perfect, but I will try my best to write a good fic.

You might also notice the VERY LITTLE effort I put in for Zabuza and Kakashi, I also had quite a bit of a problem with the KakaZabu fight in this chapter, as I know myself that they will fight again on the red bridge, so I could not reveal too much moves, as I am obviously 80% brain-dead already.


	19. Team 7, Part IV

**Act 3: Entwining Fates  
Chapter 19: Team 7 (IV)  
**Updated on: 1 September, 2007

* * *

"Are you all right, sensei?" Tsunami, daughter of Tazuna, asked the bedded Hatake Kakashi with her fists placed on each side of her waist, looking worried with how messed up her father's hired protectors were.

Rolling his sleepy eye over to one side, he replied weakly, "Yeah, I just need to rest up a bit."

"The fight must be incredible to put such strain on you, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura commented, none of the three Genins witnessed Kakashi using his sharingan eye, not knowing that his exhaustion was actually coming from using it. Though he did suffer took on a lot of physical wounds as well.

Tazuna, lying restlessly on his back, suddenly bolted upwards, and quickly crawled on his hands and knees over to Kakashi's side. "Sensei, will you be able to…"

"Don't worry too much, Tazuna-san, Zabuza was injured as well, possibly as injured as I am exhausted, they would not strike any time soon." Glancing over to his students, he continued quietly, "In the meantime, we will have to start training."

Sasuke nodded gravely, as Naruto jumped with anticipation. Sakura looked at her teammates worryingly, nervously fingering her dress, wondering to herself at whether she was of any help at all, beside from being _killed_ once…

**_"Let's do this! I will rock that masked attacker upside down!"_**

"Huh?!" Sakura asked, looking around to see who said that.

All within the room looked at Sakura, wondering if anything was wrong.

"What? You don't want any training?" Kakashi did not look pleased, whether it was the doubt of Sakura not wanting to train, or question of the demon inside of her

"Who said that?" Sakura asked again, it only added more awkward stares from the others.

"So, all we have is one shinobi who can barely move, and three kids a little older than I am! Not to mention one of them isn't entirely sane."

Everyone turned to face the newcomer – a young boy with an oversized hat.

"Inari! Don't be disrespectful!" Tsunami said angrily, walking over to the doorway where the kid stood. "They are the shinobi who protected grandpa. Inari, say hello to these people."

Raising a finger to point at the Genins, Inari commented loudly, "Mom, they are going to die… There's no way you can win against Gatou..."

"What did you say, you little brat?!" Naruto shouted, as Sakura restrained Naruto by holding him back.

**_"Let Naruto go, and make him chew that kid up!"_**

Stunned, Sakura indeed let go of her grip on Naruto, but fortunately for Inari, Naruto was sane enough to not literally chew Tazuna's grandson up (in front of Tazuna).

"Look at you, one kid who can only shout, while the other girl acts funny," Inari remarked.

"Inari!" Tsunami shouted as she dragged Inari by the hand out of the room.

**_"Why you little bastard! I'm going to chew you up myself!"_**

"Me," Sakura said as she pointed at herself, ignoring the voice shouting in her head, "acting funny?" Surprised of what she just heard from Inari, but no one noticed Sakura questioning herself as Tazuna explained to the guests of his grandson.

"Sorry about his behaviour, please forgive him," Tazuna said, casting his head down, "He… is upset about the whole Gatou incident…"

**x**

Just when Sakura was convinced she was going crazy, the voice in her head, which she dubbed her as 'Inner Sakura' since she had no name, stopped, leaving Sakura in peace. Just in time for their training, finally arrived at the nearby woods of tall towering trees, Kakashi started with a speech, "Okay, we will start the training here, but before that, I want to talk to you about the shinobi ability, chakra. As you all know, chakra is needed for performing a jutsu, this is done by forming a seal with your hands."

"But, can't we already use jutsu?" Sasuke asked.

"Nope! You guys are not using chakra properly."

As all three looked up, somehow surprised on what Kakashi said, their instructor continued with the lesson, "Well, listen, to release chakra means to bring your physical and spiritual energy and mix them together within your body. And based on what jutsu you use, the type and amount of chakra that is released will be different, and you guys are not using chakra effectively yet. Even if you are able to release a high amount of chakra, unless you control it properly, the jutsu will be weakened, or not work at all. And by wasting energy, you won't be able to last long."

_"Only Naruto was using his chakra effectively, properly from Jiraiya's training."_

There was a bit of silence between the four of them, as Naruto's mouth was left hanging, and both Sakura and Sasuke were surprised… that their instructor actually sounded intelligent. _"Looks can be deceiving!"_ The three of them agreed silently together.

"What?" Kakashi asked, he was not expecting _this_ response from them. Trying to regain his composure, he continued, "We will learn how to control it by going through a very tough training, tree climbing!"

_"Tree climbing? Where have I heard of this before?"_ Naruto wondered, as Sakura asked Kakashi-sensei how they were going to learn anything by climbing trees. "_Hmm, didn't Jiraiya teach me this before…? That idiot pervert never did explain as well as Kakashi-sensei is… Geez, no wonder I'm not improving one bit."_

As Kakashi continued on the technical details of why and how, he demonstrated scaling vertically up the tree without using his hands, only sustaining his chakra around his feet region. After Sakura awed at their teacher walking vertically then hanging upside down on a tree branch, Naruto suddenly thought that it would be awesome if he could impress his teammates with his ability.

_"It will be a breeze for me!"_

Throwing three kunai at their feet, Kakashi asked them to find a tree to start climbing, using the kunai to mark their progress.

As the three of them prepared, slowly gathering chakra into their feet, they raced off when they were ready. Just when Naruto thought that he would be the first to reach the top, he took his first step and slipped, dropping hard onto the grass.

_"What the…?!"_

Lying on the ground, he looked at Sasuke, who took three to four steps on his first attempt, while Sakura on the other hand… Sat happily on the tree branch swinging her legs, much to the surprise of Kakashi.

_"WHAT THE…?! Hey, Naruto! Something's wrong with this picture, you received training from the legendary pervert, and you can't even climb a tree?!"_

"Hey, Naruto-kun, if you don't work harder, Sasuke will be reaching the top next," Kakashi commented, with Sakura half-smirking away in the background, while telling Inner Sakura to shut up.

It took a few more times for Naruto to recall his training, after which, he surprised Sasuke by running straight up in one run. Grumpy at Naruto showing off, Sasuke worked harder, wondering why the heck the two of them were learning so fast.

**x**

At the dinner, the two boys were having a competition at who could eat more/faster, much to the disgust of both Sakura and Tsunami. Naruto tried to brag with his mouth full, resulting in him almost chocking, and as Sasuke was laughing at Naruto, he ended up coughing as well. Could not be bothered with the two immature boys, Sakura thanked Tsunami for the wonderful food before wondering off to a picture hanging on the wall, it was a photograph of the Tazuna's family, but the top right hand corner of the photograph was torn off for some reason.

Wondering about the torn edge, Sakura asked, to her surprise, the dining table instantly went silent, followed by Inari leaving his table. Both Naruto and Sasuke looked up in curious as their competition went unnoticed.

"Inari! Where are you going?" Tsunami called out, worried as Inari went up the stairs, probably back into his room.

"What's wrong with Inari-kun?" Sakura asked. Inari ignored her immediately, and slammed the door shut in front of Sakura's face.

When Sakura finally came down, Tazuna explained the four of them the story of Kaiza, a fisherman who almost became Inari's stepfather. Despite Tsunami's protest, Tazuna continued, not wanting to hear it, the daughter left the room, leaving the five of them alone with unfinished dishes.

Both Naruto and Sasuke stopped eating, as they listened on to what Tazuna had to say, of how the brave Kaiza died under the hands of Gatou. Ever since then, not only just Inari, but everyone else had since then lost their courage. Believing the bridge could mean something for the villagers, Tazuna was determined to finish the bridge.

Both Genins silently continued their dinner, as Tazuna stood up to clear away the plates left behind by his daughter and grandson. Wandering a bit, she traced the wall of which the photograph was hanging on, taking a step at a time, Sakura walked up the stairs, and eventually found herself outside Inari's room.

_"What am I doing here…?"_

**_"Because you can understand how he feels, to be alone…"_**

_"It's you again, who are you?"_

**_"I am you, Sakura-chan."_**

_"I swear that there are three of them inside me, one innocent, one crazy, one mature."_

**_"I can hear that."_**

Ignoring Inner Sakura's comment, Sakura brought herself to try knocking on his door once more time.

There was no answer, but still, Sakura gently turned to door knot. Sticking her head in, she called out quietly for the boy, "Inari-kun?"

Sitting with his back facing her, the boy wiped his face with his sleeves.

_"He's crying…"_

"What do you want?!" Inari shouted back, with his back still facing her.

"Tazuna-san told us about your dad," Sakura started out, only to hear Inner Sakura commenting that it was a bad topic to start on just like that.

"Why are you been so nosy?! Why do you guys try so hard?! No matter how hard you try, you're still no match for Gatou's men! No matter what glorious claims you make or how hard you work, when facing the strong, the weak will only end up getting killed!"

Bowing her head down, she tried to remain calm, but her fists were already shaking, just as Inner Sakura whispered a little "**_told you so"_** back inside her head.

"I hate to be like you! You don't know anything about this country, yet, you are protecting us for no reason! What the hell do you know about me?! I'm different from you, you are always smiling, as if nothing will ever happen, you don't know how hard life can be!"

**"****So it's okay for you to pose as the star of a tragedy and cry all day?! Just keep on crying forever, you idiot! You coward!"** Sakura was shocked, she could not believe Inner Sakura just surfaced all of the sudden and spewed out a lengthy speech. Sakura continued what Inner Sakura left off, "Like you, I did not grow up with our parents, and Sasuke-kun… he lost his parents four years ago. And even Naruto-kun, I don't think he has parents as well, though he never said anything. All of us have something to prove to the world, to show a meaning for our existence, to be acknowledged by everyone."

Hearing this, Inari looked up, showing Sakura his teary face.

"I believe, that what you father did was not wrong, he showed the world that he loved you and the village, enough to risk his life for everyone he cared for. Though, it may seem that he accomplished nothing, but I think, it showed your grandfather the truth and how serious the current situation is. That is why, your grandfather now risk his life, for everyone, to make a better life for everyone, including you and your mother."

"Is that why you are still here even after Ojii-san lied to you about this mission?"

**"To abandon our duties is not courageous, below the courageous, there is nothing. Those are the words of the previous Hokage. That is the way of the shinobi, we don't move because of money alone."**

Putting up a brave smile, "Hehe, onee-chan, you are pretty strange, you talked like you are an adult, I wish… that I can be as brave as you."

"You can, Inari-kun," Sakura smiled, failing to notice the blush on Inari's cheeks.

* * *

**- Author's Note -**

Hmmm, as much as I wanted to, I can't find a logical answer to make Sasuke catch up to Naruto during the tree climbing exercise. While, Sakura was shown able to do it in just one try in the original storyline, and Naruto did received early training from Jiraiya, there is no reason why he should not be able to, technically anyway. But I can't make Sasuke too powerful without a good reason, besides, him being the weakest of the three is a plot for this Act.


	20. Uchiha Sasuke, Part III

**Act 3: Entwining Fates  
Chapter 20: Uchiha Sasuke (III)  
**Updated on: 1 September, 2007

* * *

The sun dawned on the sleeping body of Uchiha Sasuke, exhausted from the tree climbing exercise, Sasuke fell asleep on a small patch of grass. Two days passed since they arrived at Tazuna's house, a day since both Sakura and Naruto climbed to the top with ease.

Having trained all by himself the whole night, Sasuke did not wake up from the soft footsteps approaching him. The curious figure kneeled down beside Sasuke, one hand carrying a basket filled with herbs and flowers, the other tracing Sasuke's well toned body.

Haku's hand eventually reached Sasuke's neck, putting her fingers around it, she slowly tightened her grip.

"Is he your friend?" Haku asked of the kid sitting on a tree branch. With the rising sun behind the boy, Haku could not instantly make out who it was, but she soon recognised the boy as the blond Genin she met during her last fight. "You should wake him up, he might catch a cold sleeping here."

Pushing himself off the tree branch, Naruto landed loudly on the grassy soil.

"Nah, let him rest, he had been training hard," Naruto said to her.

_"Does he recognise me?"_

"Training hard? Are you… a shinobi?" Haku asked in an innocent tone.

Somewhat embarrassed about being a shinobi, Naruto smiled, causing Haku to return the smile.

"Why is he training?" Haku asked, pointing a finger at the sleeping boy.

"Because he sucks!" Naruto laughed briefly before he continued saying. "Because there is a need to be stronger, for all of us."

"Is there something that you wish to protect? Do you have someone important to you that you want to prove yourself with?"

"You sound like you feel the same," Naruto asked, still standing where he landed.

"When a person has something important to protect, that's when they can be truly become strong."

"True," Naruto simply said, turning to one side, to observe the sleeping Sasuke, as if he recalled some distant memories. "Our strength can surpass our imagination when someone is… in danger."

Still smiling, Haku turned to walk away. "You are an interesting boy, let's meet again some time."

"Wait! What's your name?" Naruto quickly asked quickly before she could disappear.

"Haku," was all she said, before walking off into the distance, disappearing as silently as she came.

Once Haku was out of sight, Naruto dropped his cool look, and snapped his fingers. "Damn! I forgot to ask where she lives!" Walking over to Sasuke, he rudely woke him up. "Yo, Sasuke, it's breakfast time, wake up!"

Mumbling something, which Naruto failed to catch, Sasuke stood up, and smirked rather devilish at Naruto.

"Huh?" Naruto asked, but Sasuke ignored him, walking back in the direction of the house. "Blah!" Naruto quickly followed, failing to notice the mark made by Sasuke's kunai on the tree, far surpassing the height achieved by Naruto and Sakura.

**x**

"What? We are returning to the bridge already?" questioned Tazuna, with the worried Tsunami watching from the corner of the kitchen. "What Kakashi-sensei, you have not recovered yet! We will stand not chance!"

"Kakashi-sensei, what Tazuna-san said is true," Sakura added in.

Sitting at the dining table, Kakashi looked up to Tazuna, "Don't worry, I'm well capable of returning to combat."

Sasuke and Naruto walked in as Sakura shouted her protest. Curious of what was happening, both boys walked closer, to try to catch what was going on.

"Momochi Zabuza is already probably recovered by now, if we do not…"

"But Kakashi-sensei! We can wait it out here!" Sakura suggested.

"And risk the lives of Tsunami-san and Inari-kun? No, I know the kind of person Zabuza is, if we do not move away from the house soon, he will probably attack us here. If we are to stay away from the innocents, he will probably not come here to cause any trouble."

**"Blah!"** Inner Sakura spat aloud, folding her hands before her chest. _"Now you are controlling my actions!"_ Inner Sakura ignored her.

"Tsunami and Inari…?" Tazuna said worryingly, he turned, knowing Tsunami to be watching, and caught her evading eyes. "The sooner we complete the bridge, the sooner they will leave us alone. The construction of the bridge is nearly done, once, we…"

"But just in case, each of you will take turn from now on to watch over this house, while two of you will follow me and Tazuna-san over to the construction site," Kakashi said. _"My body is still not recovered… but that Zabuza… I will have to trust on the kids to defend themselves from the second attacker…"_

"The schedule will go like this, Sasuke, you will be the first to stay back, you are exhausted, then either Sakura or Naruto will be next, we will rotate until everything is over. The one staying watch shall be careful of any Gatou's goons, though I trust you should be able to take care of any non-shinobi opponents, do be careful, and report to the bridge should anything happen."

"Grr," Sasuke expressed his discomfort openly because of the decision of him being the first to stay back.

"What's wrong, Sasuke?"

"Nothing."

**x**

"Anything happened, Haku?"

Haku smiled as she closed the door behind her, putting the flower basket at one side, she walked over to Zabuza, who was removing his bandages.

"Oh, nothing, I met the Genin kids this morning, and had a chat with one of them, the blond one."

Zabuza showed no sign of interest in the topic, and instead said, "We will be moving out tomorrow."

"They were training hard," Haku continued, not paying attention to what Zabuza was saying.

"We will ambush them when they arrive at the bridge," Zabuza said as he swung his sword around to practice his sword arm.

"This time, I will finish them off," Haku finished off, opening a drawer, revealing the Hunter-nin mask within.

**x**

The next morning came uneasy for Sasuke, his whole body ached, and though he did not like to be put behind because of how weak he was, he admitted that he _might_ just need the rest for today.

Bidding Sasuke farewell, Sakura and Naruto followed Kakashi and Tazuna out of the house, leaving him alone with Tsunami and Inari. Tsunami was okay, she did not bother him much, but Inari kept disturbing him by constantly staring at him.

Finally unnerved by Inari's stares, he quickly grabbed the younger boy's collar while his mother was not watching, and dragged him upstairs.

"I assume that you have something that you want to say to me?" Sasuke asked coolly, while try hard not to be too intimidating.

"Hehe, just nothing, Sasuke-nii-chan," Inari mumbled.

_" 'Nii-chan' ?"_ Sasuke wondered. "_When did he get so intimate with us?"_

"Ever since, Sakura-nee-chan talked to me about the shinobi world, I become quite keen on knowing more, and among the three, you look like a shinobi the most!"

"Umm, thanks, so?" Sasuke quickly replied. _What did Sakura said to the kid?_

"So, I thought that maybe you can teach me something so I can protect my family with!"

"You can do everyone good by not getting in the way."

"You're wrong! Sakura-nee-chan said that with courage, anything can be overcome with! And I'm going to show her that I can protect the house!" Inari shouted.

"Show her? What gives her the credit of needing you to show her?"

Inari laughed nervously, while he shuffled his feet around.

Catching the meaning, Sasuke commented, "Blah! You sure got a weird taste in girls."

"So, I take it that you don't like her?"

"Why should I?" Sasuke questioned.

"That's great!" Inari laughed as he jumped. "What about Naruto-nii-chan?" he asked.

"How should I know?" Sasuke replied. "Why do you like her so much?"

"She's… different, she dares to speak the truth. Are you sure that you don't like her? The way she looks at you two, it sometimes make me feel envy of the two of you being partners with her… Hehehe."

"Humph."

Inari grinned, as if he saw through something, ignoring the boy, Sasuke continued saying, "Blah! I'm going for a patrol around the house, stay still and watch your mom."

Skipping a few steps at a time, he briefly shouted to the Inari's mother of him going out, before leaping out without waiting for a reply.

As Inari took his time walking down the stairs, he heard the door creaked open. "Back so fast, Sasu- Mom!"

Two armed swordsmen crashed through the door, one caught Inari by his sleeves, as the other went for his mother. As Inari tried to beat off the arm lifting him up, Tsunami was chased out of the kitchen by the other swordsman wearing a bonnet, with his katana pointed at her.

"Which one should we take? We only need one hostage," said the tattooed swordsman with only one eye.

"Hmm, the kid looks like a pest, let's kill him, I will love to slash someone up before heading over to the bridge," the other replied, as he stalked forwards to grab Tsunami's arm.

"No! If you touch that child, I will bite my tongue off and kill myself! You want a hostage, right?"

"Heh… Thanks your mom, kid," said the first swordsman as he followed the second swordsman leading Tsunami away.

When the three of them left the house, the shocked Inari fell backwards resting his back against the wall, putting his head between his knees, Inari cried.

"Mom… I'm sorry… I'm so sorry… I'm a weak kid so I can't protect you… And I don't want to die, I'm afraid…"

_"**Just keep on crying forever, you idiot!  
You coward!** …  
That is why, your grandfather now risk his life  
for everyone, to make a better life  
for everyone, including you and your mother."_

_"You can do everyone good  
by not getting in the way."_

**_"To abandon our duties is not courageous,  
below the courageous, there is nothing."_**

_"If it's truly precious, even if you lose your life,  
you must protect it with these hands,"  
said the smiling Kaiza  
putting back his sleeves to show  
Inari his muscle-toned arms…_

"'Dad… Grandfather… Mom…Will I… Will I also be able to become strong… Sakura-nee-chan?!"

_"You can, Inari-kun," Sakura smiled…_

**x**

"Hehe, looking at that pretty skin makes me want to cut it," said the bigger tattooed swordsman.

Annoyed by his partner, the other swordsman merely told them to move faster.

"Wait!"

"Huh?!" Both swordsmen looked back together to see Inari standing behind them.

"Inari! Run!" Tsunami shouted.

"Get away from my mom!"

"Now you got us mad, you could have escape with your life, now… you will be dead!" shouted one of the swordsmen as both of them drew their blades.

Paralysed with fear, Inari watched as both armed men rushing towards him. As their blades came down to cut him, suddenly, both swords were blocked by two shuriken. Surprised by what was happening, both katana flew out of their hands, as Sasuke arrived behind them to kick both of their heads in a singly jump.

As the two grown men fell in front of the much younger Genin, Tsunami quickly rushed over to Inari's side. Though crying, Inari was certainly smiling.

"You did great, Inari-kun. You're stronger than I thought," Sasuke said, with an almost half-formed smile on his face.

"Sasuke-kun, Gatou probably won't send his men over again for today, I know you are worry about your friends, go to the bridge and help out!" Tsuname told the Genin.

Nodding once, the cool expression returned to his face, as Sasuke dashed off into the forest.

"Thank you, Saku… no, thank you, Dad," Inari said, watching Sasuke disappearing quickly into the dense woods.

* * *

**- Author's Note -**

Yup, I changed quite a lot of things in these two chapters, Naruto was suppose to scold Inari for being 'sissy', I changed it to Inner Sakura scolding him 'coward' instead. Kakashi was supposed to tell Inari about Naruto being an orphan as well, and the courage part. Haku was supposed to find the exhausted Naruto and wake him up.


	21. Haruno Sakura, Part III

**Act 3: Entwining Fates  
Chapter 21: Haruno Sakura (III)  
**Updated on: 22 December, 2007

* * *

"Wha- What's this?!" Tazuna exclaimed as he saw the workers lying on the ground, the site was in a mess.

"Just as I feared, Zabuza recovered so quickly. Naruto! Sakura! Surround Tazuna-san, and protect him with all you got!"

Remembering of the potential danger awaiting him, Tazuna backed up, letting the two Genins to guard by his sides. As both kids drew their weapons, Kakashi took out a scroll from a pouch by the side.

As expected, mist started to roll in, thickening until their sights were deeply hindered, Kakashi whispered over to his students while they could still be seen, "Sakura-chan, Naruto-kun, stay still, and trust no one that approaches you until the mist dies down. Work together and protect Tazuna-san."

"Yes, Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura called out as Kakashi slowly disappeared from sight.

"Understood!" Naruto replied.

**_"Do not be nervous, you climbed that tree without my help, you are not as pathetic as I thought, besides, I'm here with you,"_** _she_ called out. Refusing to admit her presence, Sakura ignored her other self.

"Sakura-chan, are you okay? Your hands are shaking," Naruto asked.

Both Tazuna and herself looked down, to see her own hands trembling.

**"I'm just shaking with excitement, _Naruto_,"** Inner Sakura said, her voice strong with confidence, somehow, this made Naruto nervous instead. It was the way Sakura said his name, as if she knew him very well.

"Don't worry about me, kids. Just take care of the bad guys for me, I… I will just stay in a corner," Tazuna said with a whiny voice, backing up against the handrail of the bridge.

The first few seconds went unnaturally quiet, even the sound of the river beneath them quieted down. Suddenly, the clashes of blades came from a distance, the two Jounins had started fighting, shouting out taunts at each other.

A familiar jutsu was cast, and by the sound of it, it was Kakashi who shouted 'Kuchiyose no Jutsu'. As sounds of hounds barking flooded the surrounding, Naruto suddenly thought of up idea, of summoning his own toads to help out, as he removed his eyes from mist-filled scene. Three thin ice needles immediately flew in from the front to take chance of Naruto dropping his guard. Just when Naruto looked up in shock of the three fine needles homing in to him, Sakura pushed him away from the side.

"Look out!"

As Naruto tumbled and rolled from Sakura's push, he dropped out of her sight, only a brief yell of shock lingered in the echoes. Looking around, it felt as if the battlefield was altered from right where she stood, though she moved only a little to push Naruto out of harm's way, she could no longer see neither Tazuna nor Naruto.

Isolated from everyone else, Sakura spun around a few times, but it only ended up disorientated her more. Trying to feel for the thick wooden handrail, which she knew, was only a few feet away, she instead found herself coming face to face with a masked boy. **(A/N: Sakura thought that she was a boy, and also, during the previous battle, no one had yet to see Haku's true form.)**

Jumping back in surprise, Sakura dodged just in time from Haku's frozen claws, and immediately, Haku dropped out of sight as well. Cursing at her own carelessness, Sakura did not realise that she was shaking again, this time, possibly from fear.

_"Damn! I can't see!"_

**_"You cannot see? Do not look with your eyes, Sakura, look with your mind!"_**

_"What?! What do you mean?"_

**_"We can see through trickery."_**

As if on cue, like floating beacons, green-coloured humanoid sharps with green orbs in the centre suddenly lit up around her. Around ten feet behind her, was a tall stale and blurry green colour, which she concluded to be Tazuna; farther away in the opposite direction, a small-sized green glow was fighting another adult who was definitely a fake, probably a Kage Bunshin, somehow, Sakura knew that Naruto was fighting a water clone from Zabuza.

She now realised what she was seeing, all beings have charka inbuilt within their bodies, it was just that non-shinobi would never be able to utilise it unless trained. Sakura was seeing the charka emitted from the bodies, and with that, she could see the shape and size of the beings even if they were not physically visible. Tazuna was a dull green because he was not exploiting any of his chakra, it might be possible for her in the future to filter non-shinobi out she would not want to do that now, she needed him in sight. Naruto's glow was saying that he was having problem because he was actively using his chakra as speed and strength boost to fight with a Mizu Bunshin, which glow was bright because of its high chakra maintenance requirement. Naturally, the two adult Jounins were using a lot of chakra as well.

And there it was, the light green glow, someone who was trying to hide his presence was just a little more than an arm reach away on her left.

Again, without warning, Haku came in for the kill, but she missed as Sakura dodged again with lightning reflexes. Leaping off a few feet away, believing Sakura could not see her from such distance, Haku circled around Sakura again.

"I am interested to know how you did that," Haku calmly said. "How you survive my stab to your heart."

_"My heart? Was it that serious?!"_

**_"Ignore her."_**

"I'm interested to know who I'm dealing with," Sakura asked back instead, as she stared directly into Haku's masked face.

"You can… see me? How interesting, so, that's how you dodged my attack, I was so sure that you cannot see me," Haku coldly replied, as she released the hold of chakra maintaining the mist. Though the mist remained, Haku's release increased the visibility by a great deal, Sakura could almost see Tazuna in the distance. "My name is Haku, may I know your name please?"

"Haruno Sakura."

"Then die, Haruno Sakura!" Suddenly thickening the mist, Haku disappeared for a moment as Sakura's eyes failed to adapt quick enough. As the mist cleared in her eyes once more, she felt the slash left by Haku on her arms.

Randomly drawing kunai around her, delaying some time before Sakura could find Haku again, she noticed almost too late as Haku dropped down from the top.

_"Again she saw me coming! How is it possible?!"_ Haku questioned herself, realising that she needed the chakra more than Zabuza needed the mist, Haku released the mist once more.

Haku opted for a knife instead of using her Koori Tsume no Jutsu as she came clashing against Sakura, knife against kunai. Not only was Haku faster, she was stronger than her as well, Sakura gasped in surprise as she saw Haku freeing her left hand to form seals with only one hand.

_"With one hand?! I've never seen that before!"_

"Hijutsu: Sensatsu Suishou no Jutsu **(#1)**!"

Haku used her chakra to propel water droplets from the water around them into the air, she then used her chakra to shape the droplets into a thousand needles, targeting them at Sakura's vital organs. Sakura screamed as water needles in the air surrounded her, Sakura was trapped as needles came flying. Just before the first of the many could pierce her, Sasuke channelled his chakra into his feet and jumped. While in midair, he shouted out, "Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" The fire from his ninjutsu vaporised the needles as Sasuke landed safely next to Sakura.

"Sasuke!"

"What the-?!" Having enough the game with the two Genins, Haku decided to use her best jutsu. Using the water on the floor, she instantly froze them into several mirrors surrounding them, even the top of the 'cage' was covered with several mirrors. Now the two Genins were encased in Haku's prison.

Both Sakura and Sasuke tried to escape between the gaps, but the mirrors would immediately move to intercept them. Turning to face Haku, both of them watched in surprise as Haku stepped literally into one of the floating mirror. Once fully entered, all mirrors were filled with one Haku in each mirror.

"This is my Hijutsu: Makyou Hyoushou **(#2)**," all of the Haku said, none of them could determine where the voice came from, as if all of them said the same thing.

"A bloodline ability?" Sasuke questioned. Without letting a pause, he shot out three shuriken at the Haku directly in front of him, but unexpectedly, Haku reached out her hands out of the mirror, and retrieved all three shuriken, pulling her hands back in, all reflections surrounding them had three shuriken in their hands.

"Now, it's my turn!" shouted Haku, as all the Hakus threw all three of their shuriken at the same time. Coming from all directions, and with limited space, it was impossible for both Sakura and Sasuke to dodge all of them. Sasuke tried to hit off the shuriken like he did with the needles before, but there were just too many.

"Urgh!" Sakura cried out in pain, being slower than Sasuke, she received most of the shuriken.

"Sakura! Are you all right?!" As Sasuke growled in pain himself as he tried to think of a plan out of this trap, he was not sure whether Sakura might be able to last much longer.

"I'm all right, don't mind me! We got to do something fast!" Sakura said through the pain as she pulled out several shuriken at one go. Sakura would have thought that she might be stronger or faster with the demon inside her, but apparently not, she received pain the same as others.

"Ahh, interesting, now we have a game, think you can block all of them?" Haku asked, as she raised five needles in each hand.

Both of them understood what Haku had in mind, using the physically weaker Sakura as a hindrance for the faster Sasuke. Haku was playing with them, giving Sasuke a choice, to try to stop her, or to waste time saving Sakura from more pain?

"What should we do, Sasuke-kun?"

"I will try to create an opening, watch for it, and escape while you can."

Sakura gave a simple nod in response, while Haku watched on with interest, what possibly could Sasuke do to allow Sakura to escape her icy mirrors? Preparing to throw her needles at them, Sasuke suddenly took out a long dagger from the bag he carried, and opened it like a fan, revealing it to be a cross-shaped shuriken – the windmill shuriken!

For Haku, she only had a brief lesson on the windmill shuriken while she was still a Hunter-nin back in Hidden Mist, considered more deadly than the normal one, but harder to control, she knew that even with the powered-up nature of the windmill shuriken, it's weakness was the limited stunts one can do with it. To be able to see a windmill shuriken in action, Haku was curious to see what Sasuke was capable of, and so she waited instead for him to make his first move.

"Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"

Using his fireball technique, Sasuke inhaled and breathed out a stream of powerful flame from his mouth. Unshaken and almost disappointed, Haku merely waited, knowing her ice could not be melted by mere Genin level fireball.

However, even before Sasuke could finish his jutsu, he threw the windmill shuriken, passing through the flames, the shuriken was spinning rapidly with all four blades on fire. The burning shuriken hit the mirror directly in front so hard that it forced a crack onto it, and because the shuriken was spinning so fast, when it encountered the mirror, it actually wheeled around in the inner surface of the dome of mirrors, hitting all sides except for those at the top.

Before Haku knew it, the shuriken had already rode around the surfaces of all the mirrors. Jumping through the flames, Sasuke immediately kicked the cracked mirror, causing the fine crack to expand. The windmill shuriken completed its thirty-six turns inside the dome, and arrived back at the initial mirror, catching hold on the shuriken, Sasuke gave the mirror a final bash, breaking it in half.

Sakura immediately caught the chance, and tried to jump through, but Haku suddenly appeared from another mirror, and leapt from one mirror to another at rapid speed, cutting Sakura as she passed by her each time. Standing right beside the broken mirror, Sasuke was in a dilemma on whether to help Sakura or escape while he got the chance.

Coming to a conclusion too late, the broken mirror reformed back together. Dashing back to the centre to cover Sakura, Sasuke tried to match Haku's speed, but each time, the two of them were hit badly repeatedly. Looking back, Sasuke saw Sakura now lying on the ground, bleeding from her arms and legs.

"That speed! How did… move so… fast?! So fast that I can't even see where it's coming from! Grr, I can't die here! I have to kill him first!" Sasuke cursed under his breath.

"A dream?" Haku asked.

"A mission!"

Still on the floor, Sakura looked up, to see the same cold eyes when he first explained to the team what his dreams were, to kill someone that he hated very much.

"It seems that both of us are very much alike, there are things that need to be done, and when needs be, I can kill my heart to become the perfect killing machine. I'm curious on whether you can do the same?"

_"Sharingan, it's my only choice left."_

"You move well, but this time, I will finish you off, once and for all."

_"He's coming! Calm down… Concentrate… And see through it!"_

Haku dropped off from one of the mirrors, to the eyes of others, she would have appeared instantly, but at this moment, to the eyes of Sasuke's Sharingan…

"Too slow!" Sasuke jumped to one side, as Haku leapt off from the mirror. Missing Sasuke by a huge margin, she turned in surprise to see Sasuke's half-formed Sharingan eyes.

"He saw it! Those eyes, it can't be! Sharingan?! You are… I see, you are also from an advanced bloodline, the same as I."

Sitting up into a sitting position, Sakura watched in shock as Sasuke's eyes turned strange. "_Advanced bloodline?! Sharingan? What's that?!"_

_"I can't continue with this speed any much longer, and my jutsu used up too much chakra already, I need to finish him soon! I guess…"_ Behind the mask, Haku's eyes wandered over to the injured Sakura. "_I guess, I have to use her then."_

Taking a step back, Haku stepped into one of the mirrors again, instantly appearing in all other mirrors. But knowing the Sharingan, Sasuke probably locked on to Haku already, and any more delay might spell her doom.

"This is the end!" Haku shouted, as she came out from one of the mirrors.

_"What?! He's going for Sakura?!"_

Everything happened too fast in the eyes of Sakura, the next thing she knew, Sasuke stood in front of her, blocking her of the dozens of needles that were threw at her. Staggering forward, Sasuke instantly fell forward over her.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura cried out, as she supported Sasuke's head on her laps.

"That man, I told myself that I wouldn't die until I kill him…" Turning his head to look at Sakura. "Don't die as well, Sakura-chan…"

"Sasuke-kun!"

"I'm sorry that I can't get you out of this…," the words trailed off as Sasuke closed his eyes.

"Without thinking, he died to protect you… To protect someone precious, knowing it was a trap, he was a true shinobi that deserves respect," Haku said as she picked herself off the floor, returning to the mirror one last time for the last attack on Sakura. "Is this your first death of a friend? This is the way of the shinobi…"

_"Where are you?! You told me that I don't need to worry! How could you let this happen?!"_ Sakura screamed in my mind, trying to reach Inner Sakura.

**_"So now, you are blaming on me for your own weakness? Death is part of the shinobi ways."_**

"Shut up! I won't forgive you!" Sakura shouted, loud enough to be heard by everyone on the bridge.

**_"Are you capable of killing? Or even winning? Let me take over, Sakura."_**

"I'll kill you!" Sakura screamed as she slowly put Sasuke's head onto the floor, picking up the windmill shuriken lying by the side, and stood up with her head bow low, hiding her eyes behind the fringes of her hair. Green chakra started to flow from her body, healing her wounds, so powerful were the chakra, that the ground were being scratched by the furious spinning of the chakra.

"Wha- What's this? This chakra is…?! That's impossible for the chakra to change like this! Her cuts on the body are… healing! Who is she? Is this how she lived through my first attack?"

With her head still bowed low, Sakura clutched her fists together.

_"What a killer intent!"_

Almost paralysed with fear, Haku threw five of her needles at Sakura, but found it to be instantly deflected by Sakura just spinning the windmill shuriken around.

_"How did she improve her speed by so fast?!"_

Opening the windmill shuriken, Sakura broke off one of the blade from the hinge, and threw the three other blades on the ground, as she positioned herself in a stance.

Haku immediately teleported herself over to the mirror above Sakura, and dropped down to attack her. Nevertheless, Sakura remained calm, though with her face still faced downwards, her eyes remained hidden in the shadows.

And just when Haku was just directly above Sakura, she instead crouched down, and yelled out her attack.

**"Shiro Gufuu (#3)!"**

Sakura was spinning so fast with the blade around her, Haku was deflected off just like her earlier needles, crashing through one of the mirrors.

**"Hanabira Boufuu (#4)!"**

Dashing towards her, Inner Sakura conjured up a great gust of wind, and slashed at Haku, breaking her mask in half, and any closer, her face would have sliced in half as well.

_"A girl?"_

Haku struggled to remain standing as her own icy mirrors crumbled and started to melt., but slipped immediately, looking down, she realised she was now resting on her own pool of blood.

_"How is it possible…? Her eyes… shine like emerald, and what's this nectar-like aroma being given off…? What is she...?"_

**"Finishing move-,"** Inner Sakura yelled.

_"Stop! She's already dying!"_

**_"And so? She tried to kill you, killing is part of being a kunoichi as well, learn this lesson well, Sakura. Kill, or be killed!"_**

_"Nooo!"_

**"Chouryuu Shindou (#5)!"** Inner Sakura shouted the name of her final killing strike.

* * *

**- Glossary -**

**#1 :: Hijutsu: Sensatsu Suishou no Jutsu** – Secret Technique, Flying Water Needles, Haku's bloodline technique, unique to her clan alone.  
**#2 :: Hijutsu: Makyou Hyoushou** – Secret Technique, Demonic Ice Mirrors, Haku's bloodline technique, unique to her clan alone.  
**#3 :: Shiro Gufuu** – White Tornado, spin attack, perfect for target above you.  
**#4 :: Hanabira Boufuu **– Petal Storm, downward stroke, long range.  
**#5 :: Chouryuu Shindou** – Tidal Shock, horizontal slash, most damaging of the three, the longer the distance, the more damaging it will be, and it has an area of effect.


	22. Uzumaki Naruto, Part III

**Act 3: Entwining Fates  
Chapter 22: Uzumaki Naruto (III)  
**Updated on: 22 December, 2007

* * *

"Sakura-chan, are you okay? Your hands are shaking," Naruto asked, worrying about Sakura, according to herself, her last battle was not that great, and neither was the battle with the Chuunin brothers back in Fire Country.

**"I'm just shaking with excitement, _Naruto_,"** Sakura said, her voice strong with confidence, somehow, this made Naruto nervous instead. It was the way Sakura said his name, as if she knew him very well.

Shaking his head to banish the thought away, there was no time for this. The first few seconds went unnaturally quiet, even the sound of the river beneath them quieted down. Suddenly, the clashes of blades came from a distance, the two Jounins had started fighting, shouting out taunts at each other.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu **(#1)**!" Naruto heard Kakashi shouting out the name of his specialty technique, the summoning technique. That was interesting to know, he did not know that Kakashi-sensei could summon, for a moment, Naruto's mind wandered off again, thinking up all sorts of animals that he might be summoning.

Looking at Sakura from the corner of his eyes, Naruto saw a cunning look from Sakura, as if she was ready to take on anything.

_"If I summon the Sword Brothers _**(#2)**_, they may be able to help us…"_

Removing his eyes from the mist, he drew blood from his thumb by biting it, and proceeded to perform the seals.

"Look out!" Sakura shouted, looking up, Naruto watched in shock as three fine needles were homing onto him at the very moment. Almost immediately, Sakura pushed him out of the way, but he ended up tumbling and rolling a bit before stopping.

Looking up with stars still in his vision, Naruto surveyed the new environment, as if the few simple roll had brought him to a new place, he was all alone, surrounded by mist and nothing else. Standing up and running towards where Sakura was, he halted after a few dozen steps, realising it was futile, he seemed to be stuck in a mist trap.

_"Damn."_

The crashing of blades arrived once more, telling him that it came from the right of him, Naruto immediately turned to run towards the battle. True enough, he found Kakashi-sensei and Zabuza fighting, Kakashi had summoned a couple of dogs to hunt down Zabuza in the mist-filled battlefield.

Kakashi noticed Naruto's presence after a while, and called out, "Naruto! What are you doing here?!"

"Sensei, behind you!" Naruto warned, noticing the water clone lurking behind him.

_"What's that, a Sharingan eye? So, that's why Kakashi-sensei is called the Copy-nin…"_

Kakashi quickly banished the water clone away, as the real Zabuza shook off all the dogs, and was coming for Kakashi.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu, Gama Heijin!" Naruto shouted as he commanded the eldest of the Sword Brothers, Gama Heijin, to appear before him.

Instantly, a huge samurai-like toad positioned himself in front of Kakashi, receiving the blow of Zabuza's own gigantic sword, Kubikiri Houcho.

"Grr! What a pest!" Zabuza yelled, as he swung his sword again, this time by the side, the slower Gama Heijin failed to block it, and disappeared in a single puff of smoke.

Zabuza stared at Naruto for a while, as if thinking on what to do with him, and just when Zabuza focused his attention back on Kakashi, Naruto suddenly felt a presence behind him. Turning around, he saw another water clone of Zabuza, and dodged its attack by jumping to one side.

"Naruto! I will handle Zabuza, go help out Sakura!" Kakashi yelled in the heat of battle, as he traded blows with the real Zabuza.

_"Easier said than done."_

The water clone Zabuza refused to let Naruto out of his sight as he swung his sword repeatedly. The fighting behind him continued as Naruto struggled with his new foe, for a clone, the fortitude of it was extremely tough. Normal attacks did not dispel the illusion or return it to its original water form, in fact, slash and stab actually rebounded back to him, like hitting a jelly. It was very amazing to be able to maintain such a power water clone continuously while still be able to fight Kakashi.

"Don't worry about that Sakura girl, Haku has probably already killed her by now," Zabuza said.

"Haku?" Naruto voiced out, remembering the girl who was picking herbs at the forest.

"Plus, I'm about to send you two to the same place as her, you can apologise in the next world for lacking the strength to protect her," Zabuza continued talking.

"No! Sakura-chan won't be so easily defeated!" Naruto shouted, as he joined Kakashi, ignoring the order to join up with Sakura.

"Naruto-kun's right, I believe in Sakura-chan's strength."

"I guess, seeing her in the underworld would be the only way to conceive you then, well, let's finish this now!" Zabuza shouted as he disappeared into the mist once again.

_"Is it me, or is the mist getting clearer? What are you doing, Haku?"_ Zabuza wondered, as he channelled a bit of his own chakra to maintain his own field of mist. "_Is Haku weakening or preparing her chakra for a kill for Sakura?!"_

Realising that there was not much time left if Haku was indeed going for a finishing move towards Sakura, charging all his energy into his right hand and then into the kunai in his hand. Naruto jumped and ignored the attack from Water Zabuza, using both hands, he plunged the kunai into the forehead of the clone, and then cut through the body vertically right down through the pelvis.

Naruto landed and looked up to check if the clone, the clone was cut into half and the jutsu was quickly dispersed.

"Kakashi! I'm going to find Sakura!" Naruto shouted as he ran off immediately.

"I guess I should end this fight as well, can you hear me, Zabuza? You seem to think I survived this world with only the Sharingan. I'm a former member of the ANBU, I'll show you my own jutsu, one that is not copied from others!"

Suddenly, Sakura's voice flooded the scene: "Shut up! I won't forgive you!"

Followed by waves of disturbing yet powerful chakra aura, as all three turned to where the aura originated, for a brief moment, the battle between Kakashi and Zabuza was forgotten, as they petrified at the power of the source.

Unknown to Zabuza, Sakura's demonic power was being unleashed, and both Kakashi and Naruto could guess as much.

"Naruto! Go to Sakura's side, and protect her!" Kakashi shouted to Naruto, even though he had long since lost sight of Sakura. Facing Zabuza once more, Kakashi issued his final challenge, "Zabuza, can you hear me? Neither of us has the time to waste, let's end this right here right now!"

In the distance, Naruto could hear both Kakashi and Zabuza shouting their jutsu attack. As he got nearer to Sakura, he could hear Sakura's voice, but the voice was almost unrecognisable.

_"Could it be?! That the seal has been broken? No! It hasn't, but it's weakening and the demon's chakra is bursting out! I must stop Sakura before anything bad happens!"_

**"Shiro Gufuu… Hanabira Boufuu!"** the Inner Sakura shouted as Naruto arrived just in time to see Haku, lying in her own pool of blood, and Sakura was wielding a large dagger?

_"Haku? What does she… Damn!"_

"Nooo!" Naruto shouted, with one hand stretched out, hoping to stop Sakura.

**"Finishing move, Chouryuu Shindou!"**

As Naruto came closer to the two girls, he noticed a body lying on the ground, a few feet behind Sakura.

_"Sasuke?! Dead?! Could it be Haku or Sakura-chan who killed Sasuke?!"_

"Stop!" Naruto warned again, but either Sakura ignored him, or failed to hear him, even as he was now so close to them.

_"What power is that?! It's so… powerful! What should I do?! I must stop Sakura-chan!"_

Sakura moved her sword arm to her left, and stand in a sheath drawing pose. Sakura channelled chakra into the dagger, and brought it down in a swift stroke.

"Sakura! My only chance is to use _that_!" Running towards Sakura, Naruto shouted his power, "Kyuushuuryoku **(#4)**!"

His eyes instantly shined to a bright golden hue, channelling energy into his arms, the sleeves of his orange jacket immediately dissolved into golden sparks that spun fiercely around both his arms. Arriving between the two girls, Naruto pulled back one arm, to deliver a punch.

Meanwhile, Sakura was both confused and frightened, whether on the fact that Naruto was revealing something very powerful, or that Inner Sakura seemed to recognise the whatever jutsu or bloodline ability Naruto was using.

Standing firm between the blade of the broken shuriken and the unconscious Haku, Naruto's fist met the blunt side of the blade. From the way Naruto threw his fist, Sakura expected the blade to be knocked out of her hand, but instead, she was surprised to find that both of them actually completed their swing. Then yet, why was neither Naruto cut by her blade, nor the blade felt nothing as if it passed through nothing?

Sakura looked down when she felt the object in her hand lighter, and was startled by the dissolved blade, leaving a mere handle. Dropping what was left of the blade on the floor, Sakura was taken back by what she saw as the handle dissolved into shiny sparks. The sparks floated around where the handle was, before being pulled in by a heavier source, Naruto. At Naruto's feet, tiny sparks spun around Naruto, much like how her own green chakra spun around hers.

**"Kyuushuuryoku!"** Inner Sakura exclaimed in shock, as the real Sakura inside the body watched in awe as Naruto released his power, and his glowing arms died down to the skin tone.

"I won't let you kill anyone, Sakura-chan… and I won't let you-" Lifting a finger to point at Sakura. "-use Sakura-chan! Wake up, and don't let the demon control you!" Naruto shouted, despite feeling all his strength escaped him. He suddenly remember his oath to never use this power again, but sighed, as he realised that it was silly to have that oath taken, he knew that deep in his heart, he would do anything to protect, even at the cost of his life.

An invisible needle took a stab at his heart, it was almost unbearable, but Naruto remained standing, only lifting one hand to clutch at where the invisible pain was. Almost collapsing into unconsciousness, he heard the girl named Haku, who was still lying down asking him something, "Why did you protect me? Even after what I have done to your friends?"

"Because, all of us have a dream, and you can't do anything if you are dead… Haku-chan," Naruto replied as he passed out, falling backwards. Haku quickly sprung up, ignoring the pain, to catch Naruto in her arms.

"If we'd met under different circumstances, we might've become friends," Haku whispered into his ears, not sure whether she was telling it to Naruto or Sakura.

As the mist fully cleared off, Haku stared off into the distance, and gasped as Kakashi plunged one glowing hand through Zabuza's body.

"Nooo! Zabuza-sama!"

Zabuza froze from where he stood for a short while, stunned by Kakashi's Raikiri **(#5)**, he turned to look at Haku with a pained expression, before collapsing backward.

Exhausted by techniques she used, Inner Sakura retreated, allowing Sakura to surface, just in time to catch Naruto's body, as Haku threw him aside when she started running towards Zabuza and Kakashi. Her muscles aching, Sakura was in no state to follow her, she could only watch as Haku halted by the side of Zabuza, not sure on what to do. Shaking with confused emotions, not sure whether to cry or not, totally ignoring Kakashi.

"I am sorry, Zabuza-sama, that I am unable to become the weapon you seek!" Haku whispered as she calmed down, wiping away the tears with the back of her palm. "But… I will avenge your death!"

Taking a kunai out, she turned to stab Kakashi, but before she could do so, Zabuza's hand caught hers.

"Don't, Haku," Zabuza said, with blood still gushing out of his wound. "I know, all along, that you only want to be loved back, but I'm sorry that I can't find the courage to treat you differently than nothing but a tool."

"No! I'm yours! Your weapon, your tool, your mean to power! You can't leave me!"

"Haku, I want you to follow your own dream, and stop looking after mine. I used to think overthrowing Mizukage was my dream, but now, I see that… Haku, this is goodbye, don't follow me into hell… Thank you for everything, I'm sorry…," said Zabuza as his hands went limp, falling by the side of his body.

_"So, this is the way of the shinobi, it's too harsh_," Tazuna thought as he walked out of the mist, though not knowing everything that happened, he could sense a great sense of sadness. He observed as Kakashi walked over to Sasuke's body, with Naruto still unconscious, and Sakura stunned.

Sakura could only watch as Kakashi kneeled down to check on Sasuke, looking up at Sakura, he smiled and said, "Don't worry, Sakura-chan, he's still alive."

Her jaw dropped wide open, as she almost could not believe what Kakashi-sensei just told her, she crawled over, with Naruto still cradled in one arm, and hugged Sasuke in the other. Sakura cried, as she felt for herself Sasuke's weak breathing on her cheek.

"Hehe, so what's going on?" a voice came from the other end of the bridge. Bringing along all his men, Gatou smirked at his victory, knowing that none of the shinobi on the bridge were capable of fighting anymore.

"Why are you here?" Kakashi asked, he ignored the pain and stood up into another battle stance.

"The Devil of the Mist? What a joke, if you ask me. Actually, I have been planning this all along, I never have any intention of paying that Zabuza and his pet Haku. Now that you finished him off, I should thank you. But, unfortunately for you, I have no intention of letting anyone of you here leaving here alive!"

"So you used Zabuza-sama, I always understand that shinobi will always be tools for others. But, I will never allow you to disgrace the name of Zabuza-sama!" Haku spoke as she stood up with a dead calm voice, picking Zabuza's Kubikiri Houcho up, she swung it and rested it on her tiny shoulder.

All of Gatou's goons laughed, none of them believed in that Haku, in her current state, was capable of hurting any of them.

"I'm sorry, Tazuna-san, but I afraid that you may need to rebuild the bridge after this," Haku said to Tazuna. "But look on the bright side, after I'm done, there will be no one stopping you from building another dozen bridges all over! Get away from here, Copy-nin Kakashi, take care of your students!"

"What?! What are you planning to do?" Kakashi said with disbelief. Sensing that Haku was up to something, Kakashi picked both boys up, and carried them under his arms. "Sakura! Tazuna! Jump into the river!"

Kakashi leapt down without another words, though Sakura had to drag the older man down with her, together, the five of them were swept off by the strong but steady currents of the river.

Gatou's men were wondering what they should do next, to chase after the Copy-nin or to finish off the Mist-nin, but Gatou himself seemed quite keen on Haku instead.

"Zabuza-sama…," Haku said with a smile, stomping the sword in front of her, she continued, "Hijutsu: Daidaiteki Kogoeshinu no Jutsu **(#6)**!"

In the distance, as Kakashi pulled the Tazuna and Sakura from the river, a huge thundering sound suddenly roared from where the huge red bridge was. As a great condensed cloud of cold mist soon rose from the site, the bridge collapsed as the water below was turned into huge ice shards, crushing it into pieces. The whole bridge collapsed under Haku's final jutsu, bringing everyone on it into the now icy frozen river.

* * *

**- Glossary -**

**#1 :: Kuchiyose no Jutsu** – Summoning ninjutsu.  
**#2 :: Sword Brothers** – Three toad swordsmen, one of Naruto's summons, see chapter 10 for their first appearance.  
**#4 :: Kyuushuuryoku** – Uzumaki bloodline ability, more details will be revealed during the Chuunin exam arc. The way the bloodline works will be explained in the future.  
**#5 :: Raikiri** – Lightning Blade, Kakashi's original technique, also known as Chidori, Chirping of a Thousand Birds. I choose to let Kakashi used the name Raikiri over Chidori because that is its original name, while Chidori is the name called others.  
**#6 :: Hijutsu: Daidaiteki Kogoeshinu no Jutsu** – To Greatly Freeze to Death Technique, I guess this is actually more powerful than Haku's Flying Water Needles.


	23. Hatake Kakashi

**Act 3: Entwining Fates  
Chapter 23: Hatake Kakashi  
**Updated on: 2 September, 2007

* * *

Haku remained motionless from where she stood, her eyes seemingly dimmed of life, but her hands remained a firm grip on the hilt of Zabuza's huge head-cutting sword, Kubikiri Houcho, which was glowing at its tip where it pierced the concrete ground. The ground shook, as Gatou's men panicked, many tried to run back to mainland, but the quakes eventually shattered the portion between where they stood and where firm ground was.

Gatou quickly spun around, looking at what was happening, all around him, were icy cold crystal shards, protruding out from the ground, spinning upwards in a spiral motion. The shards grew larger as they caught on the worthless cowards he hired, as if feeding on them they grew larger upon each victim captured. Those caught by the shards became frozen, with all kinds of expressions, picturing horrors and pain still stuck on their face.

Gatou realised too late of what was going to happen to them, he knew in a way, that they were all going to die. Yet despite this, he started to ran forward, believing that if he could somehow wrestle the sword free from her hand, this might just stop.

But he did not even came close, as a small shard grew and caught his right leg, immediately falling flat on his face, he turned his head, to watch his numbed feet getting sucked into the growing ice crystal.

The bridge cracked, unable to support the numerous sprouting of oversized crystals, as fragments of concrete fell from above into the now icy river, the crack stretched forward, over to where Haku stood. Even as the ground below Haku's feet gave way, Haku remained motionless, falling along side with Zabuza's body and many other survivors, freezing instantly into the deadly cold river.

In the distance, downstream from where the red bridge was, Kakashi pulled himself up with Sasuke and Naruto still over his shoulders, while Tazuna gave Sakura a hand, pulling her up. Even from where they were, the river they just got up from, was beginning to freeze up, spreading a thin layer of ice over it.

Looking back, none of them could believe the magnitude of the damage, asking themselves if anyone could survive this. Sakura's cold wet hands found warmth in both Kakashi's and Tazuna's, and the three of them stood a little bit more while holding hands.

**x**

Sasuke woke up a day after the fight, while Naruto, two more days after that, extremely hungry, devouring everything Tsunami could cook up with. Having just check on both kids' conditions, Kakashi left them at the hands of Sakura, and went back to the guestroom to write his report for the Hokage, who would be very much interested in the turn of events.

Closing the door behind him, he walked over to the desk, and picked up the half-written report.

_Naruto woke up on the third day since our second battle with  
Momochi Zabuza and Haku, he suffered extreme exhaustion, and  
fortunately, suffered nothing else but a lost of pride for being taken  
care of by Sakura. Sasuke is in better condition, he lost a lot of  
blood, and Haku's needles struck him in many major acupuncture  
points. It was strange, now that I got a look at it, that all of the  
acupuncture attacked by Haku were merely to paralyse Sasuke,  
if not bring extreme pain to the boy, I wonder if Haku had ever  
any real intention of killing._

_Sasuke was rather curious- no. Curious is not the word, he was  
rather shock to know about my Sharingan eye._

Looking at what he wrote, Kakashi tore off the last piece of paper and crumbled it, leaving it on the desk. No use stating the obvious, anyone could guess how Sasuke might have felt, when he discovered the existence of an extra Sharingan user, after his own brother murdered everyone else in thier clan.

Picking up the pen again, Kakashi continued, writing how Tazuna commented that he would not only build one bridge, he would build four, naming them in the honour of the four Leaf-nin who saved their village.

Kakashi sat there at the table for a brief moment, thinking through of what happened. Everything seemed so fast, and scary, though he was busy fighting Zabuza, he could not help noticing the fierce battle aura emitted off the two kids. It was frightening, even to a Jounin like himself. Unconsciously lifting his forehead protector up a little, Kakashi traced the scar across his left eye, inside, the always fully activated Sharingan.

_"My eye… it hurts since I used it against Zabuza, does it still remembers its previous owner? Sasuke looked quite surprised to see my Sharingan, I guess, anyone could guess how I got it…"_

Pulling his forehead protector back over the scar, Kakashi forced himself to forget about _her_ for the time being and continue his thoughts on the events. Before they left for Konohagakure, Jiraiya briefed Kakashi on what happened while the two of them were in Grass Country. Chased by Orochimaru and his aide, Hakkotsu, Jiraiya and Naruto arrived at Grass Country to find Tsunade, the third of the Sennins. Jiraiya did not explain much about the fight happened there, but in the end, Naruto accidentally unleashed his Kyuushuuryoku, and almost died from it.

Looking down at the fresh piece of paper in front of him, Kakashi realised he had no idea how to pen it down, and thus, he instead moved on to Sakura.

_The moves Sakura used when the demon was awaken,  
somehow stirred something in my memory, I wondered if I have  
seen those sword techniques before._

_"Perhaps, I should speak with Hayate when I get back."_

_The chakra emitted by Sakura during the battle was frightening,  
it was so strong that her green chakra was visible.._

Putting the pen down again, Kakashi left his seat, seeking to get some fresh air by going outside. However, he did not expect to see Sasuke when he opened the door, blocking his way.

"Sasuke-kun… You wish to know more about my Sharingan?" Kakashi asked, his voice was so calm that it surprised himself.

Looking up, Sasuke narrowed his brows, and nodded once.

"Come on in then, Sasuke-kun," Kakashi said as he turned around, heading back to the table, shoving the unfinished reports under a few volumes of 'Come Come'.

"Why is it that _you_ have the Sharingan," Sasuke asked without missing a second.

"Someone gave it to me," Kakashi said as he sighed.

"Who is it that gave you that eye?" Sasuke asked, still resting his back against the wall, with his arms folded in front of his chest, he watched as Kakashi slumped onto a wooden chair.

Looking at Sasuke, Kakashi started a story from five years ago. **(A/N: Interlude: Uchiha Ayu)**

**x**

"Avenge, protect, truth," Kakashi concluded. The past that he had kept to himself was never told personally to another, now that he did, somehow, he felt released. "Those are the last words, from the friend who gave me this eye, not a single word of farewell," Kakashi said as he gently pushed up his protector, revealing once more the eye to Sasuke. "She wanted me to protect those I care about."

"Avenge…," Sasuke quoted, thinking upon the second word left by Kakashi's friend, another Uchiha.

_"Avenge is a word fitting for the three remaining Sharingan users, also a word fitting for the three Sharingan users. I'm an avenger, and so is Sasuke-kun, yet I have no idea what Itachi was thinking when he gained_ _Mangekyou Sharingan through Ayu's death__. What was so important to him that he had to kill her…"_

"Sasuke-kun, always remember of those who would die because of you, those who would die protect you from harm, and do not fall into darkness like your brother did."

"My- My brother! What does my brother got to do with this?"

"He killed the person who gave me my eye, yet I do not know why… I'm sorry, that's all I know…"

Kakashi picked himself up from the chair, and started walking past him to the door.

"Wait! What do you mean? Kakashi! What does Itachi wants?!"

"Sasuke-kun!" Kakashi hissed, his hand still on the door knot. "Remember, who you are, and the responsibility you are holding, as one of the Uchihas. The fate of Konohagakure may one day rest in your hand," Kakashi said in the end, as he opened and left the room.

Not understanding a single bit of anything Kakashi spilled out, Sasuke cursed as he stormed out of the room, as he banged hard against the table with his fist. The top few volumes of 'Come Come' toppled off from its stacking formation, revealing the pieces of half-written report. On the top most page, something caught his eyes:

_Hokage-sama, has the mole been discovered yet? Is this the  
reason why Team 7 was sent away from Konohagakure, or  
was it to train them better for it that may come? What could he or  
she be having? The Hizashi bloodline or the Uchiha bloodline?  
Or is he after the de_

The words left off as they were, following that paragraph were just some random doodles on it. Kakashi probably decided not to send it, some questions were better off asked face-to-face. Seeing Kakashi mentioning the 'Hizashi' bloodline, and hearing from Tazuna about Naruto's ability, Sasuke started to piece together the information he had. He remembered that the Fourth Hokage belonged to the extinct Hizashi clan, and that there was no Uzumaki clan in Konohagakure, but recalling one existed in Kumogakure!

_"Who has sent an undercover shinobi? And what is his intention? One of us?"_

Sasuke hid back the letter by replacing the books on top, as he walked out of the room, the thought of Itachi remained, and he could not stop thinking about Naruto or Sakura.

**x**

Instinct told Haku to breath, as a hand dug into the icy water, dragging the body up, separating her from the body of Zabuza. Coughing out the water she swallowed, Haku looked up to see the person who denied her of her death.


	24. Jingi Kagetsu

Previously: Team 7 headed out for their first major mission, and was almost wiped out under the hands of Zabuza and his apprentice, Haku. All this time, the demon inside Sakura surfaced more and more often, while Kakashi recalled his past and how he got his Sharingan eye.

**Interlude: Jingi Kagetsu  
**Updated on: 6 October, 2010

* * *

It was thirty-two years ago when Jingi Kagetsu fled Takigakure, and assumed the identity as a Missing-nin, she had a reason to be afraid, she had just revealed a secret not even the Kages should know. Even since the founding of the five major Hidden Villages, this secret was what held them in check, never knowing which hidden village possessed what they called the Forbidden Tomb.

It was close to the end of autumn when five Kages from five of the largest countries met in Takigakure, a hidden village known for its neutrality, and also conveniently smacked right in the middle of the eastern continent. They were trying to promote a friendlier relationship between all villages, in such a war-torn era, even the five Kages recognised the needs to maintain peaceful ties with one another while it last. While many younger shinobi were unhappy with the proposal to host the first Kage meeting, the Takikage saw it as a chance to gain affiliation with the bigger villages. It was supposed to be a casual discussion between the leaders of the five villages, but all Kages were obviously too caution with one another, and all they could share was how wonderful the weather, waterfalls or tea were. As if seeking to grasp this dull moment to further promote his village, the host brought out with him a piece of handheld mirror, Yata no Kagami, one of Jingi clan's three heirlooms passed down generation to generation.

The Jingi clan, while once famous, was in a rapid decline, their bloodline ability had became so dilute that the last person who managed to use it was Kagetsu's great grandmother. Though their clan was named after the three treasures they possessed, their true ability was the ability to use foresee the future and recited the past. A curse a few Jingi members considered, for once the future was told, that foreteller would be cursed to agelessness until the prophecy fulfil. Never die through time, only through brutal death.

A few of the Kages were interested in the artefact, and thus the Takikage summoned the youngest of the remaining Jingi, and her name was Kagetsu. When she first entered the room, she was immediately petrified with fear, the eyes from the Kages were like no others. The eyes seemed as if they could see through her robes for weapons, as if they could scan her mind for any ill intentions. Kagetsu trembled with fear with a tea set balanced on a tray, feeling stripped naked of sense and security, only a single smile broke the barrier that prevented her from moving forward. The Fire Kage, or Hokage, tried his best to calm her nerve. "Young girl, do not be afraid," he told her from across the hall. With that, Kagetsu took my first step into the hall of the _shadows_.

The host sought to make a fool of himself by insisting Kagetsu to demonstrate using the mirror, but Kagetsu knew that it was an impossible task, nevertheless she tried. A few Kages turned to her, seeking to muse themselves from the boredom with her performance. Nothing could calm Kagetsu down, six pairs of eyes were on her, with nothing but tears and cold beads of perspiration coming out from the frightened girl.

When it was becoming apparent that it was nothing more than a ruse, one by one turned their eyes from Kagetsu, however, by then, she was already lost in a trance. There was a strange dazzling light coming from the mirror's surface, it seemed as though she was the only one in the room who noticed the light, even though it was so bright and beautiful. When she fell into the deepest depth of her trance, her knees gave way and fell into a kneeling posture. Kagetsu bended forward even more, bringing of the eyes closer and closer to the mirror, knowing that something was about to happen. A pair of fierce and red fiery eyes opened from within the mirror, the pair of eyes stared back at the kunoichi, and then it happened.

She screamed as information was forced into her brain, Kagetsu could almost see the claws reaching out from within the mirror, forcing foggy pieces of the distance future down her throat. She spilled them out as prophecy, and told the audience a battle long ago, that five shinobi worked together to seal a powerful beast. They created five tombs for the monster to safeguard it, but four of which were decoys, while only one held the power of a demon. They then each founded a Hidden Village of their own, and placed one of each Tomb in each village to protect it. To protect themselves from falling into the power's corruption, not even those who sealed the power knew which was the real one. Kagetsu then told them of the successor of the Tomb, and she told them how nine men will walk towards a Tomb, opening it to reveal the splendour within it.

Kagetsu then looked up and grazed upon the frightened eyes of the Hokage.

"It is the Tomb you are protecting that they are opening."

Kagetsu spent the remaining day in a cell, she was denied of my mirror and visitors, but could hear the chaos out there: shouting and threats. In the months to come, a great war called the Great Shinobi War came to be, all for the claim of the ownership of the Tomb.

By sun down, her mother sneaked into the prison, passing the three heirlooms over, she told her daughter to run. There was no farewell, but despite the problem she brought, her mother was proud of her.

Years gone by with the girl growing to a woman, yet her appearance remained as when she was thirty-two years ago, she found the one she identified would open the Tomb and raised him as her brother, she met a loyal monster who sworn to their mission, she helped the girl who proposed the name 'Akatsuki', and recruited the snake who they together formed Akatsuki.

**x**

There was a small yet busy town far away from Konohagakure in Fire Country, it was at this place, that an unlikely Missing-nin took to live her life here. While not on her mission, Jingi Kagetsu, the only Waterfall-nin of Akatsuki, stayed alone in a library-like structure. Though filled with ancient books and prized scrolls, her most valuable possessions were her three family treasures, one to curse the user, one to cut down the enemies, and one to bind a soul.

Ever since her student came and lived with her, Kagetsu had started to clean up more often, though pushing everything to one side would more likely it should be called. With books still piling up on the floor, and a few occasional scrolls left opened, reaching from one end of the room to another, totally ignored.

Back from their shopping trip, Kagetsu walked into the room, while her student carried bags of fruits and vegetables into the kitchen. Kagetsu walked into her own room to change, not taking any care on the scrolls she stepped on.

Sound of apples dropping onto the floor summoned Kagetsu's attention back to the living room, her head popped out of the doorframe, her eyes wandered over to where her student was, who was running about in circle, panicking while pointing a finger at a lone intruder at the corner of the room.

Kagetsu would have gotten out her gears out faster than any intruders would say 'boo', but the 'intruder' turned out to be someone she knew. "Don't go about scaring my student like that, Tako **(#1)**." Looking back to where the kid was, hiding behind her, Kagetsu said, "Go pick up the apples, and leave us alone."

Obeying the orders, Kagetsu and Tako were soon left alone in the room. Drawing the window binds open, sunlight entered the room as Kagetsu went to sit on a huge soft sofa.

"I see that you tamed her," the man greeted, still hiding in the corner.

"Tamed? Oh no… She just lost her memory. Anyway, what are you doing here? The last I heard, you are supposed to be in Konohagakure spying," Kagetsu replied as she brushed aside her golden streak to the back of one ear. Other than the single golden streak in her hair, Kagetsu could almost be consider normal, with smooth black hair reaching her shoulders.

Tako, the shinobi wearing a Hidden Leaf forehead protector, stepped forward from the shadow, and sat opposite of Kagetsu. "Unfortunately, somehow, they learnt of my existence, though they do not know yet that I'm the spy."

Sighing, Kagetsu said, "Tsk, there goes your record of being the best spy in history. If your disguise is not broken, why are you here?"

"Indeed my disguise went unnoticed, and I lived on as a Leaf-nin, but I got words that the organisation needed to see me, any idea what they want from me? I have nothing to report."

"Are you afraid, Tako?" Kagetsu teased, but Tako was not one easily scared. In fact, both of them knew that Tako was untouchable, though it was true that he was not a numbered member of Akatsuki, and that his fighting ability was not all that great compared to full-fledge members, but he was the best shape-changer this world had ever seen, and no one would be silly enough to kill a talent like himself. Not to mention that Tako, along with Kagetsu, were one of the founding shinobi of Akatsuki, but he himself rejected a direct position in it, and instead continued to be a shadowy backstage crew to every other seven members.

Tako laughed with the fake voice of his, "Afraid? I just miss you, and want to hear your opinion on this."

"I guess… then that it's probably as you suspect right now. We probably have a betrayer in our organisation…"

"…how else that the Leaf could have know…," Tako said, continuing Kagetsu's sentence.

"…your presence. Pretty soon, we will get words from our leader, and probably, the two of us, the most trusted aides will have to investigate on this matter."

"But knowing you, you probably already started investigate this on your own."

Kagetsu laughed loudly, in a rather unfeminine manner, telling Tako that he was right. True enough, Kagetsu confirmed this with her own words, "Guess who it was that I found out with my trusty mirror?"

"It's _that_ person, isn't it?" Tako said. Suddenly casting a glance over to the other end of the room where a little girl peeked out from the corner of the kitchen, he asked, "Didn't know you got an interest in teaching, or is she another pet of yours."

Kagetsu stood up suddenly, "Come on, Tako, let's move out, the sooner we arrive the better."

Taking the hint that they hit onto a taboo topic, Tako kept quiet, remembering that something unfortunate just happened to Kagetsu's previous lover/plaything, the Yamanaka boy. "Hey, Kagetsu, mind if I borrow another head from your collection? I don't want to be seen too often with this body," Tako asked instead.

"Sure, take your pick, I'm going to pack up." When she came to her student, she tapped on her head, and said, "Come, you don't want to see that old man changing."

As the two of them disappeared into the bedroom, Tako walked up to a wall, and tapped hard on one of the bricks. The wall slipped away, pushing books and scrolls to one side, revealing a secret compartment. Walking into Kagetsu's collection room, Tako looked around the shelves holding huge glass jars of human heads inside some kind of reservation liquid.

Seeing something he liked, Tako opened a jar, and set it on the floor. Following that, he placed both his hands on his chin and back of the head, and pulled hard. Removing his head like a mere attachment, the headless Tako took out the other head, and stuffed his previous head into the jar instead. Placing the new head on his neck, Tako instantly transformed into the other body, a young and busty girl.

Walking out of the room without putting the jar back, Tako met up with Kagetsu (and her wide-eyed student) in the living room. Giving Tako a disapproving look, Kagetsu sighed as she headed for the door.

"Look, Kagetsu, I don't comment on your love for handsome men, you don't comment on my love for beautiful women."

"Whatever, I'm still prettier than you are," Kagetsu said as the three of them exited the house.

"Indeed," Tako said smiling.

* * *

**- Glossary -**

**#1 :: Tako** – An unnumbered member of Akatsuki, his name means 'octopus', based on Decoy Octopus from "Metal Gear Solid".


	25. Team 10

**Act 4: Eastbound Wind  
Chapter 25: Team 10  
**Updated on: 1 September, 2007

* * *

Nara Shikamaru was counting the number of time the slow rotary ceiling fan was making a complete turn, totally not paying attention to anything said within the office. Along with Chouji, their fathers and their instructor, the five of them made their way across the dense vegetation of Fire Country to look for clues of the Yamanaka family's murderer, and more importantly, their missing friend, Yamanaka Inoichi.

The Hokage nodded at everything the three adults said, occasionally showing a grave serious expression. Shikamaru wondered if it was really that easy to be a Hokage, just nodding and frowning once in a while, it seemed like an enjoyable future occupation. Of course, that thought lasted as long as a single complete rotation of the ceiling fan. Shikamaru soon fell asleep on the crouch.

Akimichi Chouji was almost as bored, but not as bored as he was hungry. Travelling for almost two weeks together with the three adults had shaped up Chouji quite a bit. Though none of the five really noticed him slimming down, the Hokage did notice the change of posture and the way Chouji carried himself.

While the five of them were out travelling, the two younger kids received many family tips and techniques. Though this was nothing to be happy about, considering what they found: nothing. There was absolutely no trace of what happened to Ino, who was missing from her house, after the murder of her parents. The two old friends of the passed away Inoichi were reluctant to return so early, but they did promise results by the end of one month.

Chouji knew what their parents were going to say, that they were going out again, with or without the company of Team 10. Sighing, almost forgetting his hungry, Chouji sat down quieting on the crouch beside Shikamaru, who had already curled up in a more comfortable sleeping position.

What Chouji predicted came true, the two fathers were going to search again tomorrow morning, and something interesting came up, as the Hokage asked Chouji to wake up Shikamaru.

As Chouji tried to wake his close friend up, the Hokage began talking.

"Team 10, I have a mission for you," the Hokage said in the presence of the two fathers as well. Shikamaru's eyes instantly flew open, but remained curled up, with his eyes facing the leather crouch, tensed about the mission.

While Chouji was excited that Shikamaru was interested in another mission, in actuality, Shikamaru was screaming inside his head. _"Not another mission?!"_ But deciding it to be too bothersome to protest verbally, and casually started to sit up, yawning.

"This is a rank C message mission, I have just received Kakashi's report on their mission, and they are awaiting confirmation on whether it's okay for them to return now. At the moment, none of the Genins are in a fighting shape, and Kakashi is injured as well," the Hokage said, pausing for a while to let the three Jounins finish showing signs of disbelief, even Shikamaru looked up with his lazy gaze of his.

Before anyone of them could question anything, the Hokage continued, "Team 10, your mission is to pass a message to them, telling them to return, and escort them back. There should be no more expected threats, but there may still be unforeseen risks out there. Team 10, will you receive this mission?"

Shikamaru straightened his back and stretched a bit, looking lazily at his instructor, and nodded once. Chouji smiled, and said yes as well. Looking at their growing sons, the two fathers beamed at each other, showing approvals as well.

"We will take it, Hokage-sama," Asuma answered in the end.

"Shikato-san, Chouza-san, please stay back while I brief you on their next search routes. Shikamaru-kun, Chouji-kun, please go home and rest, I will pass full details on the mission through your teacher soon."

**x**

"It's a four days journey to Wave Country, and we will be taking a ship over, apparently the ship routes are clear for usage again," Asuma said as the three of them walked out of the village's southern gate.

"Sensei, what mission were Sasuke-kun and Sakura-chan on that injured them?" Chouji asked.

"Come to think of it, what's the name of that new kid that joined them again?" Shikamaru questioned.

Answering to both their questions, Asuma coughed once to get the attention of the kids, and started explaining. "Well, they were on a rank C mission, but somehow, a Jounin from another village got involved, and started to interfere with their mission. The Jounin was… defeated, but the kids were injured in the fight. And also, I have only heard of that kid, I never get to teach him when he was still in Konohagakure before he left for a training trip. His name is Uzumaki Naruto."

"A training trip?" Shikamaru voiced out. _"Didn't the Fourth Hokage marry a Uzumaki…?"_

**x**

The journey was as boring as Shikamaru could hope for, sailing by ship was a lot faster than the land route Team 7 took, but that meant that Team 10 ended up stuck onboard for most part of three days.

Docking at Wave Country, in a small port on one of the islands that made up Wave Country, and Team 10 alighted the ship with mixed feeling. Food did not go well with the rough rocking of the ship, and Chouji ended up sick most of the time.

Passing by the ticketing counter to get out of the harbour, Shikamaru could not help noticing a young pretty girl walking by them. Alone with no luggage, the girl had beautiful straight black hair reaching to her upper back. Without taking another look at the girl, Asuma led them off the harbour, with a map in one hand.

Meanwhile, Haku boarded a ship, taking a window seat, she looked on moodily as the ship set sail for Fire Country.

**x**

Asuma was glad, Chouji was laughing, while Shikamaru sighed. The three of them did not expect to see Team 7 in such good condition. The three Genins were back at practising again, with Kakashi watching them, half-lurking with his head buried in a book. While both Asuma and Chouji were happy to find the four of them fine, Shikamaru wondered about the efforts wasted.

Chouji ran up towards them, waving his hand frantically to attract their attention. Team 7 did not expect the Hokage to send another team to retrieve them, maybe a postal worker or a letter, but this? Kakashi wondered if he had sent out a wrong message out as he lowered the book. Greeting Asuma, the two of them exchanged pats on each other's shoulders, followed by friendly punches to the guts.

As Shikamaru walked towards them slowly with both hands behind his head, sighing, Asuma and Kakashi started to punch each other harder, while still trying to keep the smile on their face. Sakura dropped her training gear, weights to train up on her strength, while Sasuke and Naruto stopped their sparring with one another.

Though Sasuke was not in a very friendly relationship with Team 10, Sakura was in fact closer than anyone of them could imagine. Considering Chouji was rather friendly (to anyone), Shikamaru could not be bothered to dislike her, and Ino… Naruto felt distanced with the other kids of his age, having trained alone before he left Konohagakure, trained alone while travelling with Jiraiya, Sasuke and Sakura were practically the only ones he knew of in this batch of students.

Later on in the evening, instead of trying to pack all ten of them inside their small dining room, Tazuna opted for an open-air barbeque under the moonlight. While Tsunami ended up having an intellectual discussion with Shikamaru ("Oh dear, it has been a long time since this house has someone even remotely intelligent to talk to…"), Tazuna found a drink partner with Asuma (the two of them watched on amazingly as Kakashi drank sake with his mask on). Meanwhile, Inari (who stuck close to Sakura, much to the annoyance of Naruto and Sasuke) started making friend with Chouji (who was also multitasking between eating and cooking), and eventually all the younger people gathered around to chat while eating.

Nightfall, and the dinner ended, Asuma had the toughest task of carrying Chouji to bed (sharing room with Naruto and Sasuke of course), after which, Asuma finally settled down next to Kakashi, and they get on to business.

"Who beat you up so badly, that the Hokage had to send me in to save you?" Asuma started.

"There was just a Missing-nin from the Hidden Mist, ended up tougher than I thought he would be."

"And the kids? Who were they fighting with?"

"A young girl called Haku, who, sadly passed away as well."

"It must have been tough…"

"Yeah-"

"… for you, to be disgraced at the hands of a Mist-nin," Asuma said, as he started to crack up, ending into a roar of laughter.

A bead of sweat rolled down the side of Kakashi's head, Asuma just could not resist not mocking him.

"One more word from you, and I will tell Kurenai that-"

"Urgh! Don't involve her into our conversation!" Asuma shouted as he sprang up, pointing his finger at the calm Kakashi.

"Both Naruto's power and Sasuke's Sharingan were awakened during the battle, and I afraid, something did as well inside of Sakura," Kakashi said all of the sudden, turning the mood serious for the two of them.

Asuma calmed down as he lit another cigarette into his mouth. Despite bickering back and fore like little children, the two of them were in fact rather close friends.

"I heard all about it, at least what you told the Hokage on your report. He has instructed me to bring all of you back, even if the mole has not been caught yet."

"But why? What's so important to jeopardise the Hizashi bloodline?"

"Hokage-sama said that he had words that Akatsuki is making their move, if we are not to get Naruto-kun, Sasuke-kun _and_ Sakura-chan back to safety…"

Kakashi turned to look at Asuma immediately, at the word of 'Sakura', his expression stiffened. "What do you mean? All three of them are targets for the enemies?"

"We do not know, that's what our… source said."

"Can our informer be trusted? I heard that even the Hokage doesn't know who our anonymous informer, can we trust someone who refused to identify himself?"

"I agreed with you on this, all these sound suspicious, but we have no choice but to take heed the warning, we can't risk losing anyone of the three."

"The Chuunin exam is coming up in one month time, and Konohagakure is the event holder this year, there will be Genins and Jounins from all over the world entering…"

Smiling, Asuma nodded his head. "Agreed, with the upcoming exam, we can be sure we will be seeing a hell lot of challenges coming up."

**x**

Having being warned, Team 7 moved out first thing in the morning the next day, parting words with the Tazuna household, the two Jounins and five Genins left the house for the harbour, where they would set sail back for Fire Country.

In the four corners of the world, teams from other Hidden Villages trained for the upcoming event. Meanwhile back in Konohagakure, in the office of the Hokage…

"I received the message that you have been instructed to be assigned to one of the Genin ranks? If that's the case, you are here to join Team 10, to replace Yamanaka Ino," the older Sarutobi said to the younger kid in front of him, with his hat still on, his elbows resting on the desk, and his hands rubbing together.

**x**

The motor of the boat rumbled softly, Sasuke was on the deck of the boat, looking out into the sea, when Kakashi approached from behind. He could sense the Jounin coming, but did not turn to acknowledge his presence.

Kakashi came to rest beside Sasuke, resting his elbows against the railing.

"Sasuke-kun, when we get back, we will start training your Sharingan."

Surprised, Sasuke refused to show any sign of bewilderment, and continued to stare out to the sea, asking only, "Why?"

Kakashi turned to leave without stating his reason, even himself he could not decide on whether he offered it out of guilt, or knowing that only a true Uchiha could ever defeat another Uchiha, a revenge Kakashi might never be able to take on.


	26. Team 8

**Act 4: Eastbound Wind  
Chapter 26: Team 8  
**Updated on: 2 September, 2007

* * *

The moment Team 10 returned to Konohagakure, they soon disappeared again, this time with their latest third member, the one replacing Yamanaka Ino. Neither Shikamaru nor Chouji were pleased with the finding, especially when their latest member's appearance was as mysterious as Ino's disappearance. Leaving to train on their teamwork, Team 10 left with their instructor, Sarutobi Asuma, for missions after missions.

A month passed without Team 10 hardly stepping back into the village, and few even had the chance to meet with their new teammate. As time passed on, nearing the period of the examination, Genin teams started to return to the village regardless of their mission status, and eventually, even Team 10 returned.

The very next day when all teams returned to the village, a meeting was held between all Jounin team instructors and the Hokage, to decide upon which team was to participate the upcoming exam. And it was in the Hokage's usual conference room, twenty odd number of Jounins gathered.

"As we all know, the upcoming exam is here again, which team are we sending?" the Hokage started off.

All teaching staff were informed of their current status, and knew about the potential attack on their village during the exam, though few truly knew the full details. At this moment, none of the Jounins were thinking about their teams' progress, but rather of their safety, at a time like this, it would be safer to dispatch as few teams as possible. But not too few so as to not arouse the suspicious of other Hidden Villages, and reveal this time of weaknesses to them.

There was silence between all of them, some were unsure of their own teams' potential, worrying about endangering them, but yet, a single voice stood out.

"As much as I hate it," the voice said, "I know my team will be disappointed if they find out they got rejected from taking part."

There were objections immediately, knowing very well, three of the most potential targets were in his team, Kakashi volunteered Team 7.

From the sound of it, it seemed to the Hokage that Kakashi had already told his team about the exam, whereby the news was not suppose to be announced yet. The final arrangement of venue and date of the examination was announced to the foreign Hidden Villages long before the meeting, but this information was usually held back for their village, so as to keep it as a form of surprise..

"What-?! The purpose of setting up the defence is to protect your team! And you are allowing them to join in?" Asuma snapped immediately, spitting his cigarette out aside, and stomping on it.

Among the commotion, suddenly, another spoke: "Fine then, accept my team as well, so that we can protect them."

The small group of Jounins in the room parted in the middle, to let the Hokage see who spoke. Though it was unnecessary, as from the voice alone, everyone knew that it was…

"Kurenai-san!" Asuma protested again, grinding his teeth hard. Suddenly facing his father, the younger Sarutobi shouted his decision as well, "Hokage-sama! Team 10 is joining as well!"

Raising his only uncovered eyebrow, showing sign of mild amusement, Kakashi asked Asuma this: "So you are saying that your new member is ready to work as a team as well?"

"If you are challenging my team's ability, I assure you, the three of them are working off fine. What about your own team? Are they ready for this?" Asuma questioned back.

Kakashi ran his hand through his silver spiky head, and smiled behind his mask.

"As much as Team 10 trained during this past one month, so has my Team 7. They are ready for anything," Kakashi said, though he was also thinking, _"__In fact, Sakura seems to be training on her own in addition to my training with them, it's like she has another tutor...__"_

Suddenly, the tense moment between the two full-grown adults was interrupted by the heavy laughter of the older Sarutobi. "Hahaha, good, good, I'm glad to see all three of you are so confident about all own team. So, it is decided, that all-"

"Hokage-sama!" Gai cut in immediately. Showing his pearl white shiny teeth, Gai said with a proud smile, "Don't forget about my team."

In the darkness of the dim room, the Jounins could almost hear the sound effect of Gai's teeth shining through the darkness.

**x**

To be honest, Yuuhi Kurenai was rather worried when both her colleagues deliberate mentioned about how well their teams were trained and prepared for this, it was obvious that both Team 7 and 10 were preparing beforehand for this already. It's true she trained Team 8 harder than ever since the initial date of the examination started off as a rumour, but the way they boasted out, it's like all of them were prepared to take on any attacks from this 'Akatsuki' group.

She was very certain on her own team's ability among themselves, but how would they fare against others? While Team 7 had a mission fighting against a powerful Jounin in their record, and Team 10 learnt a lot during their rank A mission with their fathers, most of her own team's missions are rank D. Besides, what major training or battles had her team gone through during these two months?

In the end, a total of twelve teams volunteered themselves, even though it was a drop in number compared to last year, these were among the best who were either too brave or foolish to care. Stopping where she was immediately, she closed her eyes to focus herself of her priority, mentally telling herself off for doubting her team's capability. Letting out a sigh, she reopened her eyes to find Hinata standing in front of her.

Startled, Kurenai quickly recomposed herself. _"__To be able to walk up to a Jounin without being detected… Is that talent or carelessness on my part?__"_

Inuzuka Kiba (with Akamaru on his head) stood right behind Hyuuga Hinata, with their close friend, Aburame Shino walking up to them. Kiba quickly came between Hinata and herself, showing off his fanged smile.

"So it's true! Something's going on," Kiba said as Akamaru barked once in confirmation. "We overheard that something big is going to happen, and now we witnessed you coming out of the Hokage tower," Kiba barked out with one hand pointing at where their instructor came out from.

"Especially when sensei told us last week that you won't be joining us for breakfast today," Hinata continued with her face turned away, her hands fingering around nervously. As Shino joined up with them, he joined them in their quest to find out about the mysterious happening. He said nothing though, and instead contributed by giving his usual cold stare at Kurenai, which quickly spooked her out.

_"__What a bunch of rebellious kids, that's why I like them so much I suppose.__"_

"It's not like I'm hiding anything, just that I wish to get a confirmation before breaking the news to you guys," Kurenai replied, as she herded the Genins to a nearby teahouse to have their usual morning breakfast.

Ordering a few light snacks, Kurenai continued as Kiba waited eagerly, "There is a Chuunin selection examination coming up in a week time, and I have chosen to elect all three of you to join in."

Hinata gasped openly, Kiba stumbled backwards (nearly falling off his stool), while Shino appeared slightly… pleased.

"Another exam already?!" Kiba protested.

"So, there's an examination so fast already? It's only been three months," Shino said coolly, his voice getting excited, though not enough to be noticed by his friends.

"Of course, the examination is not made in mind for the first years, most of the first years skipped their first few opportunities before taking part in it."

"Is it that hard?" Hinata asked worryingly.

"That's great! We must be great to be to chosen out of the whole class to take part in our first exam!" Kiba shouted as he leapt up from his stool (Akamaru barked loudly a few times, more likely to be at his owner for suddenly jumping, almost causing him to fall).

"Who said anything about you being the only team?" Kurenai calmly said out as she sipped from her tea cup.

**x**

Kiba could not decide on whether on being excited or irritated, another exam just three months after their previous. Though true that according to their Jounin instructor, that first years normally do not take on their first two exam, Kiba just had this feeling that he need to prove something to… a certain someone, not to mention now that they were in the same team.

"Arggh!" Kiba yelled as he kicked a stray soft drink tin can on the floor, obviously confused about what to do, Kurenai-sensei said that if they want, they could still reject on taking part. He knew that though Shino was eager to fight stronger opponent, he would not object strongly if their team was to withdraw. And Hinata, well, she's indecisive as well, knowing that she would probably try to please her teammates, and would agree with anything they decided on. This meant that Kiba was the decisive factor on this.

"Still thinking about whether to join in, Kiba-kun?" Hinata whispered, being the only left with him since both Kurenai and Shino parted way back at the teahouse. "Don't worry! I will support on whichever decision you make," she said, trying to cheer him up, not realising she's only making him feeling more miserable.

"Hehehe," Kiba smiled weakly as he turned back to face Hinata (Hinata always walk one step behind them). Recalling on what Kurenai said, apparently, quite a few teams were going to join, but only three teams were from the first year students, theirs, and Team 7 and 10.

Thinking back, he tried to remember who the third member of Team 7 was, or whether they had meet with the latest member of Team 10. Both were rather new Genins to Konohagakure, or at least he never saw them before.

Suddenly the sound of kids yelling broke his train of thoughts, looking up, he saw Hinata pointing off into the distance, where three kids were lying on the ground, as if knocked down by the two unfamiliar Genins Kiba had never seen before. Standing a few feet away from the three younger kids were two older kids of their age, wearing the forehead protectors of… Hidden Sound!

Kiba grinned, just what he needed, a few punches to some unfamiliar faces to clear his head. Rubbing his fists together, he barked at the strangers/bullies, "Hey you two! What are you two doing?!"

That was all it took to bring Kankurou's and Temari's attention towards the two members of Team 8. Pretending to ignore Kiba straight out, Kankurou picked one of the kids up by grabbing the scarf wrapped around his neck.

"That hurt you little piece of shit!" Kankurou said to the kid who was already shaking with fear.

Growling, Kiba shouted while waving his fist, "Hey fatass! Let go of him!"

"Please… Please let them go," Hinata added in a second later.

"Let's play a little before the boss comes," the black-clothed kid said while smirking widely with his eyes squeeze shut.

"Bastard!" Kiba yelled as he ran forward, but before he could do anything, the other kid moved at an incredible speed, twisting his hand around and pushing Kiba onto the ground.

_"__Whoa! What's that?!__"_

"Oh, Leaf Genins are weak," the male Sand Genin said.

"Don't, we'll get yelled at later," the female Genins tried to calm down his partner verbally, obviously not caring who he was trashing right now.

_"__These are foreign Genins… Are they here for the exam?"_ Hinata thought to herself, as she ran up to Kiba's side.

"Konohamaru-chan!" "Konohamaru-kun!" The little boy's two friends shouted out his name, as they joined up with Hinata by Kiba side, as the wolfish boy picked himself up.

"Let go of me…," the boy said, putting on a brave front, but shivering from fear.

"Grr… Hey! You fat pig! If you don't let him go, I'll make you pay! Fatass! Idiots!"

"Basically, I hate midgets, especially younger ones that are rude… makes me want to kill them," Kankurou said, making his empty threat, but acting so realistically so that the other Leaf Genins were taken in.

"Oh well, I'm not involved," Temari started to play along, amused with the pathetic skills and cowardice of Leaf-nins.

_"__What?! If we don't do something, the boy will be killed! Kiba-kun, will you do anything?!__"_

As Kiba only growled, his face twisting in anger, Hinata took a step back, raised her hands to prepare for her Byakugan.

_"__Something must be done soon!__"_

"Well, after this one, I'll take care of you all next!" Kankurou said as he raised his fist.

"HEY!" Kiba shouted as he ran forward one more time, this time a lot faster than before.

Suddenly, Kankurou mumbled a curse as he dropped Konohamaru onto the floor, massaging his injured wrist. Unknown to the three kids on the ground, the four Genins could clearly see a little pebble being threw from somewhere on a higher ground from one side. Turning their heads, the four of them turned to look at the newcomer, where on top of a tree branch was…

_"__The other target,"_ both Sand-nins thought together, with Kankurou almost taking a back step in surprise.

At the other end, Kiba, still in his prowling stance, was silently cursing as well. _"__That hair, he's the other member of Team 7, damn him, make me look like a fool in front of Hinata-chan!__"_

Uzumaki Naruto stood on a tree branch, playing with a small stone in one of his hands, as if ready to throw it again anytime.

"What are you two doing in our village?"

"Naruto-nii-chan!" Konohamaru yelled as he rejoined his friends, Moegi and Udon.

"Kankurou… let's go, it's not the time yet," Temari whispered, loud enough only to be heard by her partner. "Let's get out of here before Gaara get back from…"

Without saying another word, both Kankurou and Temari disappeared quickly, leaping off from the scene, so fast were they that only their shadows could be seen.

"Naruto-nii-chan! You're so cool!" Konohamaru shouted.

Immediately dropping his calm appearance, a grin reappeared on his face, looking surprised and embarrassed, "Really?" he answered laughing.

"Let's go, Hinata-chan," Kiba said without parting his eyes on Naruto. As the three younger kids ran forward to greet Naruto, who jumped down, almost tripping on himself. Turning about, to leave in the opposite direction (where they came from in the first place), he saw in surprise as Hinata watched Naruto with an uncanny interest.

_"__Naruto…__"_

**x**

Unknown to the Leaf Genins, they were being watched, that on another treetop, two Genins from Otogakure wearing spotted camouflaged pants stood watching. The leader of the Team Sound, Tsuchi Kin, smiled and commented, "Well, nothing serious…"

The other Sound-nin behind Tsuchi watched on as well, heavily bandaged thus only leaving the area around her eyes uncovered, with flowing white hair, Kinuta Kyoko was spying closely on Naruto's every movement.


	27. Gaara

**Act 4: Eastbound Wind  
Chapter 27: Gaara  
**Updated on: 2 September, 2007

* * *

Sakura sat quietly on a cushion sofa in the lounge, alienated by the strange environment and the unfamiliar Leaf-nins in the room with her. Though the Chuunins and Jounins were pretending either to be reading the newspaper or to be watching the news on the television, Sakura could not help feeling the tension in the room since she entered, or the eyes secretly spying at her.

A day before, a letter came through her mailbox, a simple handwritten letter requesting her presence in the Hokage's tower today, and upon arriving, she was directed here. Outside the lounge was a pair of heavy wooden doors, with a single wooden tag hanging on a nail beside it stating it to be a planning room of some sort.

A few more minutes passed before Jounins filed out of the room, many showing expressions of uneasiness. Sakura was surprised to see her own teacher walking out, crossing the corridor to the lounge, and sitting down beside her as if expecting her to be here all this time.

"What are you doing here, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked first.

"All in due time, Sakura-chan. I assume your meeting with Hokage-sama won't take so long, so please remember our meeting later on at three in the afternoon, at the same old usual meeting place, please remind the boys if you happen to see them, though I doubt they would forget, I did told them it's important," Kakashi said with a gentle voice. Standing up, he turned to say, "The Hokage is waiting, you can go in now."

Not awaiting a reply, Kakashi disappeared out the door, turning left heading for the stairs. Following Kakashi out of the lounge, Sakura crossed over to the huge pair of door, a Chuunin guard nodded at her, and opened it ajar, enough for her to slip in.

"Good morning, Sakura-chan, how are you today?" Hokage asked with a smile, putting away a few files of documents to one side of the table, the elder Sarutobi stood up and walked over from his desk, waving to Sakura, asking her to follow him.

The two of them arrived to another set of sofa arranged against the wall, with a simple tea table set in between.

"Tea, Sakura-chan?" offered the Hokage, which Sakura politely rejected, being too nervous to drink, something told her that they were going to discuss about… "I'm so sorry that we have not had a good talk recently, the whole village is busy."

"Regarding the Chuunin exam, sir?"

"Well, yeah, mostly that." The old man paused to stir his cup of tea. "So it's true that Kakashi-sensei have told you guys about the exam?"

"Kakashi-sensei indeed told us about it two weeks ago, but even before that I could sense something was going on, he started training us harder than usual since we came back. I thought that it was because of the Mist-nins…"

"And how did you take of the news?"

"Well… both Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun seem eager, so I…"

"What about you? Are you ready?"

"I… I am," Sakura forced it out in the end, it was true that in the beginning that she doubted her own ability, but ever since their return to Konohagakure, they had been training more than doing any mission at all. She was slowly beginning to believe that she could achieve the level of power showed in the fight with Haku without the interference by Inner Sakura. Despite not wanting Inner Sakura to surface again ever since her merciless attack on Haku, Inner Sakura appeared occasionally to give her pointers and tips during trainings, and Sakura readily accepted her guidance.

"That's good to hear," the Hokage said as she sipped his tea. "I was reading your Kakashi-sensei's report on your mission at Wave Country, and was beginning to worry about what you did."

Sakura turned her face to one side, refusing to show her 'grandfather-like' friend her face, fearing him having the ability to see through what she really was, a monster, a demon perhaps. She gulped, afraid of what he might be thinking about her.

_"__How would Sasuke-kun feel if they know…?__"_

"Did something happened back then? Do you feel comfortable to tell me, Sakura-chan?" Hokage offered, afraid of being too blunt.

"It's over… I think, the demon… has not showed herself ever since our return."

"The demon?" The way the Hokage said it, it sounded like he was not surprised at all.

"She appeared for a brief while, and fought in my place."

"She… How does she looks like?" his voice became quieter, looking wearily into his own teacup.

Surprised at the question, Sakura stuttered a little, puzzled over the question. But before she could answer anything, the older man quickly changed the topic.

"If she appears again, you must tell either Kakashi-sensei or myself, he and I are the only adults you should trust on this matter."

"Why- Why's that?"

"The demon is very dangerous, she is eager to get out, and will take any opportunity to do so, if she's loose, I do not know who… is capable of sealing her up again like the Fourth did."

Though knowing the demon to be dangerous (from texts and tales), Sakura did not realise before how serious the Hokage was treating this matter.

"I will, sir."

"Good, and also, if there is anything that you deem suspicious, please inform an adult as well, not only shinobi from Konohagakure know you are the container, and there are many who will want to exploit your… ability."

"I understand," Sakura replied, with beads of perspiration rolling down the sides of her head.

The topic soon turned to something less stressful, the two of them laughed a little over jokes and funny incidents, and discussed a little about her training the past few days. Talking about how Kakashi tried to train up on her strength, and how greatly both Naruto and Sasuke had improved.

At last it was time for lunch, the Hokage apologised that he could not join her for lunch as he still got work to do, and so the young Genin left the tower herself, only to be questioned by an old friend the moment she took her first step out.

**_"_****_Why did you lie to the old man, Sakura-chan? Are you afraid of admitting my existence? After what all that I have taught you? Where do you think your power comes from?_****_"_**

An expression of worry crept back onto Sakura's face, but her steps did not falter, as Sakura continued her way home to have her lunch.

**_"_****_Are you ignoring me again? Haven't we got over this already? Haven't you _****_forgiven_****_ me for attacking that Mist girl already? Answer me, Sakura-chan._****_"_**

Sakura started to move faster.

**_"_****_It's useless to ignore me, we will always be together, Sakura-chan. Fine, I will be quiet now, but I thought that you should know that someone has been following you ever since we left the tower._****_"_**

_"Wha__t__?__!"_ Sakura thought as she spun around suddenly.

**_"Well, what a fine move you did, by turning around, you just told your stalker that you found out that he's there, what a smart move indeed. Geez, I don't even know I bother to…"_** The voice in Sakura's head said, as it eventually faded off into echoes.

_"Where's he?!"_ Sakura asked the demon, turning her head frantically, searching for something odd.

There was no reply, Inner Sakura indeed left her head, but even with the warning, Sakura could not find anyone behind her.

_"Who could have __sent__ someone to follow me? Should I tell Hoka- What if he sent…? Can't be!"_

Turning at a corner, Sakura quickly ran home.

**x**

Gaara was surprised when Sakura suddenly turned around, as if warned by something. Thinking back, Gaara tried to think if he had set off any warning.

_"__No, it can't be.__"_

Gaara hid himself well, not to mention the way Sakura looked for him, it was as if she could not find him in the end. If what they said was right, this girl possess a demon as well, one that let loose some major havoc and devastation over the forest of Fire Country some twelve years ago.

He did not care why Kazekage was so interested in the girl (though it was probably because of the demon sealed within her), but he would gladly take on any mission that would allow him to come any closer to anyone like himself. Gaara wanted to know everything about Sakura, whether she suffered the same as he. If he had suffered and sacrificed greatly for his current powers (powers that he would gladly give up if chance came upon him), Gaara wanted to know if she did to. It all came down to one thing, to prove that he was not alone. His expressionless face almost cracked apart to reveal his true emotion, a wicked smile craving for an answer

Stopping suddenly in his tracks, he mentally let out a sigh of irritation, and turned around, to face the one stalking him. His sleepless eyes pierced the canopy of a huge nearby tree by the road, telling the follower that he knew of his presence. _Stalker ended up being stalked_, Gaara mused.

One second he sensed fear and surprise from his stalker, the next, it was gone, whoever he was, he was skilful in escaping, managing to disappear like he was never there at all. Deciding for a split second, Gaara played with the thought of catching him and squeezing him until his head go pop.

It would be fun, but it would not be worth the effort. Turning to continue following Sakura, he sighed again, at realising that he lost her. Turning once more, he quickly disappeared, chasing after the fading trail of his stalker.

The two of them flew through the rooftops, but the moment they reached a small forest, the one leading suddenly stopped. Turning to face Gaara, the two of them came face to face, as Abumi Aoi turned around to face him. Like her other companions, she was dressed in grey spotted attire, with a scarf wrapped around her neck.

Gaara's cold emotionless face met Aoi's equally cold emotionless face, in the small clearing where Aoi brought Gaara to, the two of them stood silently, wondering what would be their next move.

Of course, Gaara recognised Aoi's forehead protector, bearing the sign of Hidden Sound, Hidden Sand's latest ally against Hidden Leaf. And of course, Gaara was planning to kill her anyway, ally or not, pretty or not. Folding his hands, Gaara commanded the sand inside of his gourd to move, pushing the topper out, sand started to sip through the opening.

Aoi quickly raised one hand, "Wait, I'm not your enemy, Gaara of the Desert!" Seeing the sand coming closer to her feet, Aoi leapt off into the safety of the branches. But almost immediately, the gathered sand turned into a fist, smashing into the tree. The whole tree shook as the fist continued to wrestle with it to force her down. Finally losing her balance, Aoi stumbled and fell rolling to where Gaara stood.

Gaara started recalling the sand back to deal with the Sand-nin, as Aoi struggled onto a begging position on her knees, or so Gaara thought. With her arms wrapping themselves around his waist, Aoi twirled her face up and smiled sinisterly at him.

"Don't force me to kill you, Gaara-kun, at this distance, even your Suna no Yoroi **(#1)** cannot protect you."

The two of them froze at where they were, neither of them were moving, whether it was out of fear or not, it was not showed, as both remained seemingly emotionless.

Smiling all of the sudden, Gaara took a step back, and gradually into a turn, leaving the battlefield. His opponent, Aoi, released her hold around Gaara's waist, but remained kneeled on her knees. But once Gaara disappeared into the thickness of the forest, Aoi collapsed forward, her hands swung forward to support her weary falling body. On all fours, a single drop of perspiration rolled down from the side of her forehead down to her chin, where it dripped onto the soil.

_"__He's dangerous!__"_

Trembling with fear, Aoi started to pant heavily, releasing her mental hold upon herself, letting herself to sink into the reality.

_"To pretend to be fearless before him, it was indeed a tough job…__"_

Picking herself up on her own pair of unsteady legs, Aoi could not help wondering what could have happen to them.

_"It's true that with my technique _**(#2)**_, I can destroy him inside out through both his sand armour and sand skin… But… I could have died as well with him being so dangerously close to me… It's too early for me to die, not before I… I can't be so reckless anymore!__"_

Standing up, calmness crept back into her face, wiping her rolling sweats off her face with her sleeves, Aoi stared off at where Gaara just stood before walking off herself in the opposite direction.

* * *

**- Glossary -**

**#1 :: Suna no Yoroi** – Armour of the Sand, Gaara's secondary line of defence, sand and chakra mixed together to form a thin layer of skin protecting Gaara.  
**#2 :: Aoi's Technique** – Aoi's most devastating technique, to be explained in the future.


	28. Team Gai

**Act 4: Eastbound Wind  
Chapter 28: Team Gai  
**Updated on: 1 September, 2007

* * *

Leaving Sakura behind, Kakashi left the lounge without taking a second look, heading towards the stairs, he went a few rounds down the spiral staircase. On his way down, another shinobi walked up the stairs, one hand covering his mouth as he coughed violently, the other hand holding onto a huge envelope.

Neither of their eyes met, but both sensed each other presence, for a brief while, Gekkou Hayate looked up, before shoving the envelope onto Kakashi's chest. Receiving it without any objection, Kakashi merely nodded slightly before tucking the envelope into his jacket, and continued his way down without pausing.

At the top of the stairs, Hayate turned and looked down, amused with all the secrecy the two of them were making a fuss up of. He did not know what was it all about, only that his old friend came up to him for help, asking him to do some research, emphasising that it was to be remain a secret. The information Kakashi asked him to research on made no sense to him, but knowing Kakashi, Hayate could bet that he was onto something again.

**x**

Hours passed, as Kakashi started walking to their meeting place. He remembered telling his students that they would be meeting at three this afternoon, Kakashi hoped that they would not be late, he did remember telling them that it would be important.

The moment he arrived at the little wooden red bridge, their usual meeting place, Kakashi could instantly sense the prying eyes focusing on him, like predators waiting to jump at him. Looking down at this watch, it was barely four-thirty, he wondered what was with the tense atmosphere.

As Kakashi neared his students, Naruto pushed himself off the handrail of the bridge, which he was previously sitting on, landing right beside Sakura. Both of them appeared to want to say something rather unpleasant, but suddenly both of them sighed together, probably realising it was useless to do so anyway.

_"__Naruto-kun ha__s__ been growing stronger since our return, having revealed his true strength. As if suddenly awakened, he started to remember all the lessons he undertook with Jiraiya-sama. Even till now, I have no idea whether it as a disguise or otherwise that Naruto did not reveal his true capability at being a shinobi, but then again, I won't be surprise if it turns out that he was just being dumb, and really did forgot his lessons. It seems that Jiraiya-sama really did teach mostly basic to the kid, even if he is showing mastery over almost all basic jutsu, and chakra control, it won't be enough, good thing that I have been asking Sasuke-kun to teach him some basic fire-based attacks, at least something to expand on his limited __knowledge__ on jutsu he can perform.__"_

Naruto whispered something into Sakura's ear, probably a plot to make a fool out of their instructor, but Sakura turned and knocked hard with one fist on his head instead. As Naruto soothed the bump that already appeared, Sakura bended down and whispered something back into one of his ears, probably suggesting an even more sinister plan instead, causing Naruto to grin widely at her plan. Both of them were plainly ignoring Kakashi, as he was almost right in front of the two.

_"__Come to think of it, the two of them have been appearing quite close, among the three of them, these two almost always stick together, even when Sasuke was teaching Naruto something, Sakura could be found nearby. Totally different from what I initially thought out would happen, __e__specially since Naruto's fight with the possessed Sakura. Strange, as if the two of them are seeking comfort with one another, both not truly understanding their true power._

_"Like Naruto-kun, Sakura-chan has been growing everyday, and once again, it surprised me that she was growing more on the physical aspect. Her past records showed excellent test results, though most were mostly mental calculation and logical tactical problems, now she was showing strength in melee combat. She is growing faster and stronger with each mission, is someone else teaching her?__"_

Sakura moved over to the other side of the bridge, trying to arouse Sasuke to join in with their whatever plot. The kid merely listened with his eyes closed, leaning against the bridge, nodding but not really paying any attention, however even so, Sakura continued to rant on in whispers. Suddenly, Sasuke's unnaturally dead calm face broke, as a laugh threatened to break loose.

_"__Is that a slight curve on his lips that I'm seeing on his face? Can it be that Sasuke-kun is going to work with them with their scheme, possibly to try to unmask me again? Did he tell them of our secret lessons together, or the new jutsu I just taught him yesterday? No, Sasuke-kun likes to keep secrets, from me and his teammates, any tramp card he might have, he will not reveal it unnecessary, and unlike Naruto-kun, he's not a person who boasts. Ever since my promise to that boy that I would help him in developing his Sharingan, we have been training together secretly after dark, and I can now proudly say for certain, putting their special abilities aside, among the three, Sasuke-kun is probably the strongest among them. Looking at his private training ground, or the crushed wooden dummies, the result is obvious. Then again, there are still too many uncertainties with Sakura's and Naruto's abilities.__"_

"Yo, guys, sorry that I'm late, I was caught up with reading something," Kakashi greeted them as he walked up to them.

Laughing embarrassingly, Kakashi waited something to happen, anything, from the usual 'you are late!' routine or a sudden sneak attack, but nothing happened.

_"__Silence… The silent treatment…__"_

Coughing slightly to break the silence between the four of them, Kakashi continued on, "Ahem, as I said before, regarding the Chuunin exam I told you guys about."

This indeed brought some attention to him, as all but Sasuke looked up – the interested look on Naruto's face, and the expression of uneasiness on Sakura's face.

"Well, what about it?" In the end, it was Sasuke who asked the question first. "Have we been accepted?"

Kakashi nodded once, and immediately Naruto jumped around on the spot, raising one fisted hand up into the sky, yelling and roaring altogether. Unexpectedly, even Sakura showed for once the sign of eagerness on her face, the calm look in her eyes, the cold smile, for a short moment, it unravelled Kakashi's own composure.

Pulling out three entry forms from within one pocket, Kakashi handed them out to the overwhelmed students, who for the moment had all forgotten about the pact to unmask Kakashi's mask to see his horse-lips or beaver-like frontal teeth.

"Don't forget, this is still just a nomination, whether to take up the exam is up to each of you. Those who wish to take it should sign those papers and turn them in at room 301 by four tomorrow. That is all."

With that said, Kakashi disappeared into a puff of smoke, leaving the students to their own deep thoughts.

Looking at the opposite side of the bridge, where Naruto was, Sasuke thought about all the strong enemies he might encounter in the exam, and for some reason, the thought of fighting both Naruto and Sakura came into his mind. Ever since he heard of how they fought with Haku and later on with one another, Sasuke's blood had been boiling, itching to compare himself with both of them, to Sasuke, it's only obvious that both of his teammates had hidden talents that they did not tell him about. However, what he wanted to know was how powerful they were compared to his Sharingan, how could it be that Sakura could defeat Haku, someone who his Sharingan could not defeat?

**x**

Kakashi reappeared in a distance, on a rooftop not far from where he initially disappeared from. Though showing no sign of recognising the presence standing behind him, Kakashi greeted him with familiarity, like how an old friend should be treated.

"Hey there, Gai," Kakashi said, knowing that Gai was there behind him.

"Yoz, Kaka-shi! Want to challenge me again?! Want to win back your lost?!"

Kakashi's back was facing Gai, so he could not say for sure what his current posture was, but having know that Jounin for so long, he should be expecting a pose from Gai, smiling ever so radiantly.

"Why are you watching my students?" Kakashi asked back instead.

"Actually, I'm looking for you, something is wrong with you, Kakashi, you seem different… I saw you and Hayate just now at the stairs, what was in that envelope?"

"I can't tell you yet, but I'm suspecting something, I can't say for certain, but I think the Hokage knows something that we don't."

"It's only natural, he's our leader, there is no need for him to tell us everything."

"He is keeping a secret, something that got to do with Sakura-chan, and the demon."

"You are oversensitive to this kind of things…"

"But was I ever wrong?"

Down below, the three Genins parted their ways having said their farewells to one another. Ignoring Kakashi's previous statement, Gai said, "In any case, even though my students will be acting as bodyguards in a sense, they will not hesitate to beat the pulp out of your students."

"I will appreciate that, the three of them are growing too fast to be natural, they need to understand that they are more powerful foes nearer to them than they think." Finally turning around to face Gai, Kakashi continued, "But trust me, Gai, it won't be an easy task beating my students."

**x**

"Hey! Did you hear?" a boy shouted, competing over the sound of countless kunai flying through the air, dodging every single one of them, he continued, "For the first time in five years, there are rookies in this Chuunin exam!"

"No way! It's probably some stubborn Jounins in competition or something," a girl replied, every swing of body brought out more kunai, all of which flying towards her teammates.

While the boy in green coveralls dodged every kunai coming for him, he replied back without sweating, "No, the story is that three of them are students of that Kakashi."

The other kid in white shirt was using a kunai of his own to deflect the flying kunai, saying, "That sounds interesting…"

"But in the end…," the girl continued as she mustered all her strength into throwing her final kunai at the white-shirted kid. "You have to feel sorry for them."

Catching the blade of the last kunai with his bare hand, Hyuuga Neji smiled, as Rock Lee walked up from behind him, in his hands were all hundreds of Tenten's shuriken and kunai.

**x**

"Here we are, guys, room 301," Lee announced to the two of them with a wide smile, pointing one hand over his shoulder towards the crowd behind him, he waited for both Neji and Tenten to approach closer before turning 180 degrees and followed them along the third floor corridor of the old academy school.

"But what's with the crowd, Lee?" Tenten asked curiously, "Shouldn't they be entering instead of massing around the classroom door? They seem to be forming a circle, watching something…" Upon seeing Lee's own uncertain expression on his face, Tenten ran forward, and jumped a few times behind the crowd, trying to see what was going on, but as there were taller Genins blocking her view, she quickly decided to push her way through instead.

"Hey, what's going on?" she asked to no one in particular, hoping anyone among the crowd would answer back, but before anyone could answer back, Tenten managed to pushed through the crowd filled with Genins older than themselves. As Neji and Rock followed through, they were surprised to see Tenten gasping speechlessly, eyes wide open at the sight before them.

Turning their heads to focus on the incident happening before them instead, both Neji and Rock were caught surprised as well. Right before them, two older-looking Genins or Chuunins were lying unconscious on the ground. Ignoring the beaten up faces of theirs, Neji took notice of the Leaf protectors on their foreheads.

As one of the two Leaf-nins tried to get up, his face was greeted with the foot of a young shinobi in grey camouflaged uniform with flowing white hair. Delivering a swift kick to the Leaf-nin's chin, he was sent flying crashing through the door. As all attentions were on the fight, none of the other Genins noticed the room tag changed from '301' to the original '201'.

"Let's go, we shouldn't be here, this is not the right floor anyway," Neji said as he turned away from the sight.

"What? Neji-kun, shouldn't we help?" Tenten pleaded.

"Didn't you two agreed that we shouldn't attract attention to ourselves, and that's why we played along, and arrived on this floor," Neji replied back without looking back.

"Neji-kun? Too late for that, Lee has…"

Sighing hard, Neji turned to see Lee was already blocking the second kick from the attacker on the second Leaf-nin with his bare hand, surprising the watching Genins.

"Kyoko, enough!" a shorter girl with black hair called out, placing one hand on Kyoko's shoulder, pulling her back.

"Lee!" Tenten shouted, as she joined his side, drawing arms against Kyoko.

"I do not take kindly of liars, Leaf-nins," Kyoko said, looking down at the remaining Leaf-nin on the ground, who was barely conscious.

"Never mind that now, let's go, we made enough of a fuss about this already," Tsuchi Kin said, and started to pull on Kyoko's sleeves, dragging her away, somewhat frustrated. Their third team member turned her attention from Lee and Tenten over to the crowd, looking pass the hordes of Genins.

Walking over to join Tenten and Lee, Neji turned to watch the Sound-nins left the scene, as the Genins parted way allowing them to walk by them. As the crowd started to stand back for the Sound-nins to walk away, Neji saw another three shinobi entering the corridor. A pink-headed, a black-headed and a blond – Kakashi's team.


	29. Uchiha Sasuke, Part IV

**Act 4: Eastbound Wind  
Chapter 29: Uchiha Sasuke (IV)  
**Updated on: 2 September, 2007

* * *

Team 7 arrived a minute too late, by the time they came upon the fake room 301, the commotion was already over, and people were pushing their way up to the real third floor. But even so, Sasuke had the rare chance to see a team from another Hidden Village composing of a all-girls combo, all with different hair colours – the first had raven black hair, the second with silky white hair, and the third with a shade of lighter blonde compared to Naruto's.

The first two from the Team Sound passed by without taking another look at them, but Sasuke could not help noticing the presence of the third member. Abumi Aoi and Uchiha Sasuke exchanged stares as they walked by one another, seeing her eyes almost stunned Sasuke, but he could not remember what it was that surprised him so much. When finally Aoi and her teammates left the second floor as well, Sasuke quickly catch up with Sakura and Naruto, who both had already gotten ahead of him, at where three Genin kids barely older than himself were gathering.

When he caught up to them, he noticed two adults sprawling on the floor, with one kid clad in green overalls supporting one, and a girl with her hair tied in buns supporting another. But Sasuke's attention was not on either of the two, but rather on the one in white, who he recognised to be from the Hyuuga clan, a clan said to be of rival of the Uchiha clan.

"Are they all right? What happened?" Sakura asked, bending down next to the girl, while Naruto watched on. Suddenly Naruto's face distorted into a mixture of surprise and disgust, and when Sasuke turned to see what he was looking at, he saw for himself that the boy in green was suddenly looking rather bizarrely at Sakura, especially with those round eyes and strange eyelashes. At that moment, Rock Lee's circular features on his face could not have been more prominent, a dead serious frown on his face soon twisted to a gentle smile, and to show his determination, Lee raised his clenched fist.

Before either one of them could react, Lee dropped the head of the adult he was previously supporting on (causing a mere groan from the fallen Leaf-nin), and marched stiffly over to where Sakura was. "Hi, my name is Rock Lee, you must be Sakura-chan. Let's go out together! I'll protect you till I die!"

"Ehhh?!" came Sakura's violent reaction, stumbling several steps back with her arms waving in front of her, trying to warn off Lee's advance. "No way! You're lame! Those eyelashes are ewww! Hairstyle is lame… And those thick eyebrows!" Sakura forced herself to say it all out, and for the moment she thought that she might have hurt his feelings, but it appeared neither Lee nor his teammates showed any sign of offence at all, in fact, Tenten nodded her head in agreement.

"Come, Sakura-chan, let's go to room 301 together, I will defend you from all your enemies!" Rock suggested with enthusiastic voice.

"What the…," Naruto replied in place of Sakura.

"Come, Sakura, Naruto, we only got half an hour left, let's go into the room and get this over with," Sasuke said in the end, prompted only to do so to hasten the process of getting away from Lee.

"How dare you," Lee said suddenly, "Sasuke-kun, my name is Rock Lee, and-"

_"What? How does he know my name? In fact, he called Sakura by her name as well..."_

"-I challenge you to a fight! I will take care of you within five minutes!"

"Whaaat? You two are just going to fight like that?" Naruto said with his eyes squeezed tightly into two fine lines, showing a mixed sign of puzzlement and disbelief.

"No, I also want to test my techniques against the offspring of the genius shinobi clan, plus… I'm lucky to get to fight against you, the number one rookie, before you get eliminated by others first."

Narrowing his eyes, Sasuke said, "Challenging me knowing the Uchiha name, frankly, you're a fool. You're about to learn what this means, Thick Brows."

"Wait, Lee!" Tenten called out, "We shouldn't be fighting-"

"No, please let me, Tenten! I-"

"Let him, Tenten," Neji said, turning towards Lee, "We will wait for you upstairs, Lee." Nodding once towards Neji, Lee focused his attention back on Sasuke, as if he would be attacking anytime soon. "Don't lose, Lee."

"But… Neji-kun!" Tenten ran following Neji out of the corridor, leaving Lee with Team 7 (and the forgotten adults still on the floor).

"Sasuke-kun…," Sakura asked in her tiny voice, despite knowing it would be impossible to stop Sasuke, both in the physical aspect and the fact that knowing Sasuke to be someone who would never reject a challenge.

"Sakura, Naruto, please leave us, I will join you shortly," Sasuke requested coldly without taking his eyes of Lee.

Sighing, Naruto started to walk back to the stairs, stuffing his hands into his jacket's pockets. Giving Sasuke one last worried look, Sakura followed Naruto out upon Sasuke's request.

At the other end of the corridor, Sakura looked upwards, at Naruto who was already climbing the stairs, asking, "Naruto-kun, why did he ask us to leave? Is he going to use something dangerous?"

Pausing at where he was, Naruto turned and looked down. "No, it must be something new that he doesn't want to show us yet."

"New technique?"

Back outside room 201, Sasuke was readying himself, he had heard of Neji's team before, a talent for their year, led by a Jounin called Gai. Though he knew very little about this 'Gai', but surely however he looked, he could not be looking anymore lamer than this fellow here. Somewhat amused and distracted by the thought, he was unexpected to see Lee blurring, and feeling a kick at the legs, sweeping him down to the floor **(#1)**.

While still falling backwards in mid-air, a sudden green flash came right before him, spinning fast and hard, kicking him once more **(#2)**, causing Sasuke to spin out of control. Falling farther and higher away from where he last touched the ground, he barely managed to land on his hands and feet, before anything else, he quickly dispatched his Sharingan eyes.

_"What the?! I was careless, he was so fast that I could barely block him! Ninjutsu or genjutsu, it must be a trick, I'll reveal it with my Sharingan!"_

A sudden kick up to his chin came faster than he thought, sending him flying upwards.

_"The Sharingan can't read it! This can't be!"_

"The Sharingan… Yes, my techniques are neither ninjutsu nor genjutsu."

Still flying through the air, almost hitting the ceiling, Sasuke suddenly felt a presence under him, but before he could turn his head, he head Lee's voice once again, this time under him, hiding within his shadow **(#3)**.

"Yes… My techniques are simple taijutsu, Sasuke-kun. You may not believe it because it is so basic, but…They say the Sharingan has the ability to reveal all types of jutsu. It is true that by reading ninjutsu and genjutsu, which need chakra to be raised and seals to be performed, you will get an advantage though the Sharingan. But taijutsu is a little different. Even if you-"

All of a sudden, Sasuke exploded into a puff of smoke, startling Lee, causing Lee to both choke on it, and be marvelled by the speed that Sasuke escaped him.

_"What?! How did he disappear from my sight? All this time, I have him under my constant vision! And the body that I hit just now, it was solid!"_

"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu! **(#4)**"

_"Over there! A fire jutsu!"_

As the stream of fire came forward from Sasuke's mouth, the intense heat broke the windows' glass panels, but it was too soon to be over, as when the fire cleared, Sasuke could still see Lee standing at the opposite end. With his hands' bandages let down, Lee stood slightly burned, but overall unharmed.

_"I'm sorry, Gai-sensei, I may need to break your rules, I will have to use that move!"_

"That's enough, Lee!" a voice commanded, breaking up the tense fight between the two boys. "That technique is forbidden!" Walking towards then, a green-clad shinobi approached up to them from where Sasuke was.

"Gai-sensei! I'm… sorry, Gai-sensei!"

Spinning around to face the Jounin, Sasuke was too exhausted from the fight to be surprised as to how similar the two of them were look like. Panting from the fight, he watched on cautiously as Gai walked passed him, and… punched Lee hard on the cheek, sending him flying and spilling blood along the way.

"Please leave us, Sasuke-kun," Gai requested as walked over to where Lee fell, and kneeled down to hug Lee. From his voice, he sounded like he was crying, not wanting to see that, or any more unbearable body gestures from those two, Sasuke gladly left.

"Hmph," he said, as he turned to walk away.

Lee started to cry as Sasuke left the scene. "Gai-sensei, I'm sorry, I just want to know who is stronger among the two of us."

"It's okay, Lee, this is what youth is all about! It's all right to make mistakes, as youth and mistakes go together. If you have used that move, Sasuke-kun would surely have lost and get hurt, even if he continued to use _that_ jutsu of his."

Meanwhile, at the stairs, Sasuke rested his back against the wall, hiding from sight from the two Leaf-nins at the other end of the corridor.

_"What a monster! If I had not use that jutsu right before our fight, I would have surely been beaten senseless than now."_

As the cry of 'GAI-SENSEI!' rang through the empty corridor, Sasuke quickly climbed the stairs to join his friends, but as he turned around the corner, he was surprised to find Kakashi standing right before him.

Tenten was the first to notice his arrival, while somewhat blushing a little, she made a soft comment something about the 'cute boy coming back already'. Though Tenten did not make any indication on whether she was cheering on Sasuke or Lee, Neji on the other hand was clearly disappointed with the results.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura leapt forward and hugged the surprised Sasuke, "Welcome back!"

After he plied Sakura off him, he turned to ask the all-the-while silent Naruto, "Ready to go?! Naruto, Sakura!"

The serious-looking Naruto smiled, returning to his normal self, and together with Sakura, the both of them shouted, "Yeah! Let's go!"

* * *

**- Glossary -**

**#1 :: Leaf Violent Wind** – A sweeping move.  
**#2 :: Leaf Spinning Wind** – A mid-air spinning kick.  
**#3 :: Shadow Leaf Dance** – A jutsu where you move as if attached to the shadow of your target.  
**#4 :: Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu** – Flame Type: Powerful Fireball Technique.

* * *

**Act X: Parody  
****Chapter X: Pants on Fire**

"Hey Kotetsu," Izumo called out, lying on the floor, his eyes on the ceiling. "Are you still alive? I think everyone have forgotten about us, Kotetsu…"

"Izumo? I think my pants are still on fire…"


	30. Haruno Sakura, Part IV

**Act 4: Eastbound Wind  
Chapter 30: Sakura (IV)  
**Updated on: 1 September, 2007

* * *

Surely the room Team 7 entered was not a normal classroom, even right now, there were already hundreds of Genins of all ages placing their eyes on them, observing their every moves. With even the serious Sasuke and the slow-witted Naruto feeling the pressure on them, no doubt Sakura was feeling even worse.

Overwhelmed by the sight, Sakura almost backed up the very instance she took her first step in, all the while thinking, _What numbers, they are all taking the exam? They all looked so strong!_ Gulping her saliva down the throat, she nervously scanned the surroundings, it felt like every eyes were watching _her_, threatening to kill her with their stares alone.

Even with Neji leading his teammates in behind them, the tension was not lifted from her heart, in fact, it almost looked like a few of the Genins diverted their eyes away from Neji! Neji, Tenten, and Lee finally settled themselves in one far corner, away from Sasuke, Naruto, and herself.

Watching Sakura from the corner of his eyes, Sasuke was already worried that Sakura might fall victim to stress before anything else. But suddenly, before Sasuke could calm Sakura down with words, Naruto threw his head upwards, and pointed one finger out into the crowd, bringing himself to be the centre of attention for everyone in the classroom, yelling, "My name is Uzumaki Naruto, I'll won't lose to you bastards!"

Stunned for a second, Sasuke almost wanted to thrash Naruto up on the spot, not because he was afraid of the unwanted attention, but he was making them looked like fools. Looking back at Sakura, he was worried that the stunt might have make Sakura feeling even worse, but was unexpected to see her smiling instead, still pale in face, but somehow feeling more relieved. Though still feeling the pressure from their potential rivalling teams, somehow Naruto's challenge lightened up her spirit again.

"Hell yeah!" Sakura cheered after Naruto, though it was really nothing more than a whisper, none of the Genins out at the front could actually hear her saying it.

"That felt great, doesn't it, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked Sakura.

_"Did that idiot yelled about just to cheer Sakura up?"_

Just when their overall morale was starting to get better, Sasuke suddenly sensed a group of people walking in from behind, fearing that there might be a fight. But even before he could react to anything, they were greeted by someone instead, turning around, he was surprised to see that they were actually from his class.

"Hey there, Naruto-kun, Sakura-chan, Sasuke-kun, didn't expect to see you guys here as well," Akimichi Chouji welcomed them with one hand holding a bag of potato chips, the other hand dragging his teammate and best friend, Nara Shikamaru. While Chouji was more than eager to chat with them, Shikamaru was reluctant, especially now with so many eyes watching, he did not like the unnecessary attention on himself.

"You won't lose to those bastards? Big words… What a moron, you just turned everyone into your enemies. How bothersome you are, Naruto," was all he said to them.

Focusing on Chouji's remark, Sakura asked, "'As well'? Who else are here?"

"Boy oh boy, if it isn't the loud brat, eh Akamaru?" Inuzuka Kiba walked up from behind them, his fierce face was brought out even more by his pointy canine smile making him looked like-

"Dog Boy, you're here too?" Naruto laughed. Akamaru barked immediately in protest, while Aburame Shino restrained the screaming Kiba. "Chouji-kun, this team only has two members?"

"Eh? Where's Hinata-chan?" Sakura answered for Naruto, and it was only a while later that a tiny hand appeared behind Shino waving slightly about before disappearing back behind Shino again.

"Hinata-chan, what are you doing behind Shino?" Kiba asked, his voice suddenly sounded gentler than before.

"Come out from there, Hinata-chan," Sakura asked laughingly as Naruto watched on uninterested.

While Chouji started looking around for their own third team member, Hinata reappeared from behind Shino, pulled out by Sakura.

The simple 'Hi...' was soon drowned among the discussion between this group of friends. As Chouji started to pester everyone on whether they had seen their third member, Kiba started saying something to Shino (who did not look like he was paying attention to anything) while pointing a finger over to the bored Naruto. Meanwhile, Sasuke was mumbling something about 'what a bizarre bunch of weirdoes I have for classmates' to himself as he shook his head.

"There she is, Chouji," Shikamaru said in a matter-of-a-fact tone, pointing to someone among the sea of Genins. Turning towards the others, "Hey guys, I don't believe you guys have seen our new teammate yet."

"Hey, Haku-chan, come over here for a while," Chouji called. Walking up to the bunch of Genins was the Haku they knew, still wearing the same attire as before, the only thing changed was the friendly smile on her face, and the change of the forehead protector.

"HAKU?!" the three Genins from Team 7 shouted at the same time, yielding yet another unnecessary attention from the other Genins and their own classmates. Shikamaru sighed when he sensed all the heads in the room turning to place their eyes on them again.

"Oh? You guys know each other?" Chouji asked, puzzled with everything going on, for the short while, hunger was forgotten.

Like Sasuke and Naruto, Sakura could not react fast enough to the sudden appearance of her one-time rival, and she lower jaw would have continue to hang there wide open like an idiot had it not for the interruption of another presence.

**_"Ah great, see? How nice, cockroaches die hard as they always say. Now, we can see how much better you are now after my trainings with you, I'm sure she be more than happy to die for us the second time."_**

_"Shut up! I told you I'm not your student!"_ Sakura quickly replied back.

**_"Yet you absorbed everything I taught you, don't worry, if you are fighting her again, I won't interfere. Unless I'm dying because of you."_**

"Woah! I didn't really expect you to see you here," Naruto said in the I-knew-you-are-still-alive tone of voice as he went over to grab both of Haku's hands, shaking them hard so hard that Haku's head was blobbing up and down. From the way he was speaking, Sakura and Sasuke wondered if Naruto had knew Haku longer than they did. "Hey, Haku-chan, welcome back to the world of the living, how was it the other side?" Naruto added later on, asking the dazed Haku. The way Naruto asked things, it almost sounded like he was serious, that certainly did not help in breaking any ice, as Haku herself was not expecting to see the three of them so soon.

"Hello, good afternoon, Naruto-kun, Sakura-chan, Sasuke-kun," Haku said in the end, trying to pull her hands free from Naruto's grasp. Haku did not seek to have any observable anger or hatred on her expressions, but Sasuke decided to be caution on the same side. Sasuke folded his arms, not sure whether to show any anger over being killed by the girl. _"Well, Naruto seems pretty friendly with her…"_

"How did you survive after… _that_?" Sakura asked, still vividly remembering the scene of gigantic shards of ice rising up, freezing everything they touched.

"Well, someone saved me, and well, I'll explain later when we have the time…," Haku said, somewhat redundant to explain anything other than what being said.

"You guys are rookies just out of the academy right?" a voice suddenly came out of nowhere, as everyone turned to look at the speaker, at the background, Hinata nodded innocently. "Screaming like schoolgirls, geez… Not once, but twice! This isn't a picnic."

"Who do you think you are?" Kiba challenged the new-comer, who was bigger than Shino himself, probably a few years senior than they lot.

"I'm Kabuto, but instead of that, look behind you."

"Behind?" Sakura asked as the majority of the heads turned, only to see several scary faces staring back.

"Geez, are those guys even young enough to take the exam? Isn't there an age limit or something to prevent old guys like those from entering?" Naruto commented on some of the few faces he saw in the background.

Ignoring Naruto's comment (and the fact that Hinata actually nodded in agreement), Kabuto continued while trying to keep his cool, "Those guys behind you are from Amegakure **(A/N: Hidden Rain)**, they have short tempers. Everyone is nervous about the exam, quiet down before you cause a scene. Well, I can't blame you, you're clueless rookies, you remind me of how I used to be."

"Kabuto-san… right? So this is your second time?" Sakura asked. Chouji started eating again at this point.

"Nope, my seventh time. This exam is held twice a year, so this is my fourth year."

"Wow, so you know a lot of about the exam?" Sakura asked again, with Sasuke mumbling 'how unimpressive' at the background.

"Hehe, then I'll share some info with you cute rookies, with these info cards."

"Info cards?" Hinata asked.

"They are basically cards which have info burned onto them with chakra," Haku answered softly.

"Right you are, and I have four years worth of info here, over two hundreds cards." Placing a thick stack of cards on the floor, Kabuto squatted down as he waved his hand about, asking the kids to join him in a circle where all could see. "They look like blank but to open the info on these cards…"

"What are you doing?" Chouji asked.

"You can't view them unless I use my chakra, for example… for this card, it shows a graph of the number of Genins taking the exam and the breakdown of what country they are from."

All of them crowded around, some bending over to peek at the small card, but the information was well placed, with clear indication that Genins from Konohagakure took part with the exam the most, while also showing a few of them the rare map of the world, with names and arrows pointing out all major countries and Hidden Villages.

"Do you have cards with info on individuals?" Sasuke asked suddenly.

"Hehe, there are some guys you're worried about? Of course, the info on the exam participants isn't perfect, but I do have it. Even of you guys, say something about these guys and I'll take a look."

Turning his eyes to one side, he looked at Lee, as Sasuke said, "That guy, Rock Lee. Show me."

"Okay, first, Rock Lee, he's a year older than you guys. Mission history is 20 completed D missions, and 12 completed C missions. His sensei is Gai. His taijutsu have improved greatly in this year, the rest is nothing impressive. Last year, he gained attention as a talented new Genin, but he did not participate in the exam. Like you guys, this is his first time. On his team are Hyuuga Neji and Tenten."

Hinata gasped once on the mentioning of Neji's name.

Kabuto took a short break from his speech as Sasuke absorbed in the information, unexpectedly, someone asked him for another person's strength.

**"What about that Genin with a giant gourd?"  
**_"Who?"  
_**_"It's the guy looking at us when we left the tower."_**

"Who?" Naruto whispered to Chouji, thinking that he was someone from Konohagakure as well, and Chouji only shrugged with his shoulders

"I think you are referring to Gaara of the Desert from Sunagakure, completed 8 C rank missions, and wow, 1 B rank as a Genin… Since he's a newcomer from a foreign country, I don't have much info but… it seems he returned from all missions without a single scratch."

**"…"**

"Hidden Leaf, Hidden Sand, Hidden Rain, Hidden Grass, Hidden Waterfall, Hidden Sound … Many outstanding Genins from the various Hidden Villages are here to take the exam. Well… Otogakure is a small new Hidden Village just created last year, so there isn't much info but… the rest of the Hidden Villages are filled with talented youngsters."

"M…Makes you lose your confidence… So basically, all the people here are…," Hinata said to herself.

"Yup! Like Lee and Gaara, they are the top elite Genins from the various countries. This isn't going to be easy."

The various Genins looked upon each other for a while, even the well-trained Haku seemed distracted, as Sasuke glanced around, looking at the potential enemies, his eyes rested on Neji's team, then fell onto Lee's face.

Meanwhile, in the far corner of the room…

"Hehe, he dare say that Otogakure is a minor Hidden Village? Is that so? Let's play with them a little bit…"

"Good idea, Kyoko, calling us leftovers… Let's help him add to his data…"

Without answering, in the very instance, Aoi blurred, followed by Tsuchi and Kyoko, all three speeding up to an invisible pace, skipping by and dodging the random movement of several other Genins in front of them, and coming right before Kabuto.

As Kyoto drew up her right sleeve, revealing an armoured arm, Tsuchi appeared from the top, drawing everyone's attention, followed by several kunai came flying in, homing onto Kabuto's position. Unfortunately for them, the more experienced Kabuto had already sensed their presence and turned around to welcome their attacks, he jumped back a few steps to dodge Tsuchi's kunai, and another few steps to narrowly evade from Kyoko's punch to the face.

It was only then that everyone noticed the Sound-nins' presences, turning around, they were both shocked by their sudden assault, and surprised that Kabuto actually dodged both attacks. But just when Sasuke was smiling, impressed with Kabuto's speed, suddenly, Kabuto's glasses shattered, followed by him crouching over, puking his guts out.

"What's going on? He dodged it… so why did his glasses…?" Sasuke said.

"He threw up!" Naruto shouted in astonishment, very much stating the obvious.

"Kabuto-san!" Sakura cried out.

However, it was long from over, Aoi had yet to deliver a final blow, arriving at an amazing speed, she appeared right next to the fallen Kabuto. But just as Aoi was about to elbow Kabuto, Sasuke dashed forward, seeing him running towards her, Aoi froze for a moment, but quickly retreating back into the safety of her group.

Naruto and Sakura followed closely after Sasuke, and the two of them supported the ill Kabuto as Sasuke positioned himself in front.

"Aoi," Kyoko suddenly spoke up, and without waiting for any reply, she finished her sentence, "You worthless shit!" Lifting her right sleeve again, Kyoko spun around to confront the off-guarded Aoi, punching her right in the face, sending her crashing against the wall behind her.

"Kyoko!" Tsuchi shouted.

Surprised at the turn of event, Naruto commented softly, "How cruel, that girl… Kyoko! She must be their leader!"

The next two events shook Naruto, first, Aoi immediately stood up, even after such impact, Aoi pushed herself onto her unsteady legs. Face bloodied, but showing almost no signs of anger over being punched. Wiping her face with her sleeves, the second event happened, the bandaged face belonging to Kyoko suddenly looked up, staring right into Naruto's eyes. Fear suddenly overwhelmed him, thoughts of 'monster' and running away appeared right in his heart, something about Kyoko was not right. Had it not been Hinata standing behind him, almost granting him strength, Naruto would have collapsed right on the spot. (Or could it be that Hinata was hiding behind Naruto?)

Both Neji and Lee watched in amazement of the happenings, with both Temari and Kankurou discussing among themselves. "From what we heard, this Tsuchi Kin is their leader, but this Kinuta Kyoko is acting like the leashed monster!" Ignoring his siblings' comments, Gaara focused his attention on the trembling Sakura.

Even as the Jounins examiners finally appeared in a grand entrance of smoke and sound, yelling, "Quiet down you worthless bastards!" Gaara pieced the smoke with his stare. At the other end, the Inner Sakura looked back within the mind of the real Sakura, smirking darkly of the events that took place, her eyes were only Kyoko, Inner Sakura did not understand why, but she felt like there was something that needed to be done that she had forgotten.


	31. Mitarashi Anko

**Act 4: Eastbound Wind  
Chapter 31: Mitarashi Anko  
**Updated on: 7 September, 2007

* * *

The cloud of smoke erupted inside the packed classroom, and from within, a deep voice roared, "Quiet down you worthless bastards!"

Morino Ibiki and his crew of Jounin examiners emerged from the subsided smoke, though fierce-looking due to his scarred face, his heart was excited, it must be a first time that a fight like that blew up like that even before a test, and already two of his men were missing.

"I'm Morino Ibiki, the examiner for the Chuunin selection exam's test." Pointing a finger at the only team from the Hidden Sound, Ibiki continued saying, "Hidden Sound guys, stop doing as you please before the exam, do you want to fail already?"

"I apologise, this is our first time, we got a bit carried away," Kinuta Kyoko said, bowing a little, sounding so humbly and sincerely that it was unbelievable she was the same person who hit her own teammate.

_"What a sudden change of attitude, behind the bandages around her face, only her left eye is exposed, even with just that, Kyoko can gives impression sincere look. Most people can be easily tricked into this lie of an apology."_

"Bah! Here's a good opportunity to say this, there will be no fighting without permission of the examiner. Even if permission is granted, killing your opponent will not be tolerated. Those pigs that disobey me will be failed immediately, do I make myself clear?"

A few groans came from the students, which Ibiki ignored anyway.

**(A/N: The rules are the same in the manga and anime versions, so I will just cut this short.)**

He started explaining the rules as the Jounins started to file the students into single line, which after taking a number tag were arranged to sit on whichever table where their number matched. The fact that their first test was actually a written paper shook a few of the kids very hard, especially Naruto and Kiba. The even harder part for them to digest on was when they were told that if even one of them fail, the whole team would be disqualify. It was then that Sasuke and Sakura started to worry, knowing Naruto for the mere few months was enough to tell them that he was not the intellectual sort of person.

The test went ahead of schedule, and Ibiki was delighted to see the agony on the Genins' faces. But even as sadistic as he usually was, he was hopeful that a few of them would pass this test, which test more on skills and determination than actually the nine questions on the paper.

Sakura did not realise that the test was meant to be cheated to pass, but it did not matter to her anyway, since she knew all nine answers. She could not help worrying for Naruto while she started scribbling for the answer to the second question.

Sasuke on the other hand understood the hidden intention, and quickly activated his Sharingan eyes to copy down the movement of a kid he suspected to know the answer. After he copied down one answer from that kid, he read through the answer he just copied, and found it to make some sense, so he continued cheating, quickly starting on his next question.

Naruto was staring at the paper, as beads of perspiration rolled down his head, quickly wetting the question sheet.

While the boy sitting on Naruto's left was disgusted by how someone could sweat so much, Hinata, who was sitting on Naruto's right, on the other hand was too busy thinking about something that made her blushed. She believed that she could solve at least a few of the questions, and decided that Kiba and Shino should not have any problem, so she went ahead to offer Naruto help anyway, who gladly helped himself to her answers. Naruto was fortunately skilled enough to be able to cheat without being spotted, something he learned from Jiraiya, the ability to spy in broad daylight without being caught.

Kiba was staring at the paper, as beads of perspiration rolled down his head, his eyes darted side to side, peeking at the corners of his eyes at any nearby answers. It did not help when the two kids sitting beside him were being selfish, and would always hide their answers from him with their body. Fortunately, Akamaru quickly came to his rescue, providing his master the answers (at least what a dog could apprehend). Kiba swore to himself that he going to kick the two boys' asses later on.

Nobody knew whether Shino found out about Ibiki's sinister plan, he was going to cheat either way. His bugs were all over the room even before Ibiki told them to start.

Shikamaru cursed a few times, he should listen to his father when he told him to study for the test. Looking down the questions, he raised his eyebrows in surprise because it was way too easy for him.

Fortunately for Chouji, Shikamaru did not forget about him, he managed to spread his shadow across under the rows of tables, using Kagemane no Jutsu **(#1)** to help Chouji finish the questions. Before everyone knew it, Shikamaru took a nap.

Meanwhile, Haku started to freeze some tactical locations around the ceilings, using them as mirrors. Finally, she located one person who seemed to know his way around the paper.

Tenten was ready to throw up a mirror, making it stick to the ceiling using her blades, but upon spotting the well-hidden icy mirrors, all she did in the end was to tune one of the mirror's angle, and found what she was looking for, Neji!

Neji was already copying using Byakugan to see through the body of the guy sitting a few rows in front of him.

Meanwhile, thanks to Tenten's carefully tuned mirror, and Neji's answers, Lee was already on his way to finishing the third question.

While Kyoko was listening to the rhythm of someone's writing to determine the answers, and both Aoi and Tsuchi had to arrange earlier on a special code based on a sound wave frequency to get their answers from Kyoko.

As for Team Sand, Gaara formed a third eye using sand **(#2)** and used it to spy around. Meanwhile, Kankurou cheated by using his disguised doll to pretend to be an examiner and relay the answers to him, which Kankurou later on passed over to Temari when the puppet passed by her.

Forty-five minutes later, Ibiki revealed the real shocker, the tenth question turned out to be quite a challenge, to fail to answer the last question correctly would mean that the whole team would have to stay as a Genin forever. Eventually a few teams started leaving, giving up, not wanting to risk their future on this. This dilemma hanged on their minds until a strong voice spoke up, clearing once and for all the doubts in them. Just when Naruto was about to raise his hand himself, challenging Ibiki, something happened:

**"Don't underestimate me! I will not run! I'll take it, even if I'm a Genin forever! I'm not afraid!"**

_"Sakura! What's wrong with her?!"_ Sasuke questioned himself, though it came easy to him that something was obviously wrong, within the one month since their return, he had occasionally witnessed for himself the sudden change in personality in Sakura, but even so, he could not believe his ears. He saw then Naruto looking at him, who then nodded his head once, telling him to believe in Sakura.

_"Sakura-chan! What's wrong with her?!"_ Naruto was equally shocked, her tone of voice did not change, but Naruto could sense a slight difference, the current voice… sounded innocent yet wild with youth, not like Sakura's usual voice that was usually lined with nervousness and sadness, neither was it like Sakura's other voice which was deeper and angrier. It was then Naruto remembered the demon inside of her.

_"Inner Sakura! What's wrong with you?!"_ Sakura almost screamed, but Inner Sakura kept her peace, somehow it managed to boost his confidence all of a sudden.

Of the other Genins, only three kids seemed to notice the change: Gaara was emotionless on the outside, no one could know what he was thinking; Haku's expression suddenly change, acknowledging that this was the Sakura who fought with her; and finally Kyoko smiled under her bandaged face, pleased with the awakening.

Since the Jounin teachers did not know Sakura well, none of them realised of the sudden change, though Ibiki had his doubt. Though it appeared that it ended there, as Sakura returned to her normal self, seemingly not realising what just happened.

"I'll ask again, your life is riding on this decision, this is your last chance to quit."

_"Interesting kid, she blasted away everyone's worries, blah, so many teams still remain. Stretching this any longer won't make any difference."_

"Good decision, now, to everyone still remaining… I congratulate you on passing the first test!"

"What?! What do you mean?! We already pass? What about the tenth question?" Naruto shouted across the room, could not help feeling the frustration.

"There never was such a thing, or you could say that those two choices were the tenth question," Ibiki said with his scarred face cracked apart revealing a smile, which appeared quite eerie.

As various students started complaining and questioning, Ibiki then told them that the first nine questions were to test their information gathering skill, while the tenth was to test them on their judgement, in which in a real situation of making two difficult choices, how would they choose?

As many teams expressed happiness over passing, an equally amount of teams showed disappointment at being scared for nothing.

Suddenly, the windows near the Jounin examiners suddenly exploded on impact, blowing in the shards of broken glasses inwards. A few of the Jounins appeared startled, though Ibiki showed a face that could only explain that he was expecting it to happen, though not exactly looking forward to it.

A huge banner opened up, with ends tied to kunai that stuck deeply onto the walls and ceiling. With words of 'second test' on it, a female Jounin fluttered her trench coat open, yelling, "You guys! This is no time to be celebrating! I'm the examiner for the second test! Mitarashi Anko!"

As most of the Genins expressed bewilderment and confusion, Anko did a quick count, and laughed wickedly, "Bah, so many left?! Don't worry, the next stage of the exam will cut the number down more than half! Now, let's go to the venue of the second test, Practice Area 44, also known as the 'Forest of Death'!"

**x**

An hour before, teams of Genins entered room 301 to take part in the first test of the exam, now, after more than half their number cut down, the second examiner, Mitarashi Anko promised to reduce their number to half than it was now. Bringing them to Practice Area 44, where many dubbed it as the 'Forest of Death', Anko explained the rules to them:

"Now, before we start the second test, there's something I have to pass out. You must sign these agreement forms," Anko said, with one hand holding up a stack of consent forms.

"What?" Naruto questioned.

"There will be deaths in this one, and if I don't have you sign these, it will all be my responsibility, hehe. I'm going to explain the second test, then you can sign it afterwards, and then each team will check in at that booth behind me. I'll explain the second test now, simply put, you will attempt the ultimate survival. During the survival, you will be asked to complete a certain task, you guys will compete in a no-rules scroll battle."

"Scroll?" one of the Genins out front asked.

"Yes, once each team has completed all three forms, you guys will have to exchange those forms for a scroll, it will either be a Heaven scroll or an Earth scroll. Objective of the mission is to get both Heaven and Earth scrolls, and arrive in time at the tower in the centre of the forest. The time limit for this test is… five days!"

"Five days?!" Chouji protested. "I have to hunt for food in the wild again…?"

"You guys will have to settle everything inside yourself, beside the man-eating insect, the poisonous plants, and the dangerous animals inside, everything else are pretty much edible, just choose with caution. Also, as a rule, no one is allow to back out once the team is inside the Practice Area 44, even at the risk of death, no one will be send in to retrieve anyone until five days period are up. And lastly, no opening of the scroll until arriving at the tower with both scrolls!"

With that said, the Genins started grouping up among themselves, and lining up for their forms.

"This doesn't sound easy, guys," Sakura said.

"Guess not, Sakura-chan," Naruto replied back. "Beside, who was the one telling everyone not to underestimate her?"

Sakura could only silently sigh…

Naruto sighed as well but Sasuke kept his coolness, thinking about the coming test. _It will be tough, with so many foreign Genins with skills we never seen before…_ Looking at Sakura for a while, Sasuke quickly put his signature down on the form. _"Even though she appears worry, she still sign the form without hesitation."_

"Ready, everyone?" Anko shouted after a while, as teams started to gather around. "Okay boys and girls, the fun is over, from here on, it will be dangerous, this will be the last chance for you guys to give up." Seeing no one backing up, Anko continued saying, "Fine, once you guys are ready, go to a booth and exchange your forms for a scroll, and then get to one of the gate. The test will commence in thirty minutes."

After which, the three of them walked over to the booth, and behind the curtain, they received a Heaven scroll.

"So we can't tell who got which scroll," Sasuke commented.

"Everyone will be our enemy," Naruto continued for him.

"Ready, Naruto-kun, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked, her face beaming with determination.

Nodding their head in unison, the three of them went to a random gate, where an adult stood standing by.

"The second test of the Chuunin exam now begins!" Anko shouted one last time, using her chakra to project her voice around the fence surrounding the forest. At that very instance, all adult supervisors opened their respective gates, and immediately, all eighteen teams of Genins rushed in, disappearing into the shadow.

* * *

**- Glossary -**

**#1 :: Kagemane no Jutsu** – Shadow Imitation Technique.  
**#2 :: Daisan no Me** – Third Eye.


	32. Hakkotsu

Previously: Thirty-two years ago, a young kunoichi made a prophecy, and involuntarily started the Great Shinobi War because of the secret revealed. Back in the present, Team 7 finally joined the Chuunin exam, meeting the dangerous teams from Sunagakure and Otogakure.

**Interlude: Hakkotsu  
**Updated on: 11 February, 2011

* * *

_Half a year ago…_

Hakkotsu **(#1)** had no name, age, gender, past or future; what remained in her were her bare instinct, and the desire to remember what was forgotten.

None but a few within Akatsuki knew about Hakkotsu's history, and it was this secret Orochimaru was holding her at bay. Hakkotsu obeyed every orders issued to her, with only the promise that one day Orochimaru would tell her the truth. However, her memories were already slowly creeping back into her hollowed skull, and it was this rare night that she dreamt of her past.

Long ago, there was a young and pretty kunoichi with pink hair, wielding a long blade, banishing enemies with chakra-boosted blows. She was so close to remembering the girl's name when Orochimaru woke her up.

"Come, Hakkotsu! We are going," Orochimaru called as he entered her quarters, and Hakkotsu obeyed. Discarding her sleeping robe aside, she revealed the exoskeleton body of hers; at where her face should be, was a mask crafted in the design of a human skull. Even when her entire body covered in a suit made of bones, the curves of a human female could still be seen, highlighting her adult figures. Taking out a set of Otogakure uniform and a green cloak from the wardrobe, she worn them, and donned a hunter-nin mask to finish off the disguise as a human kunoichi.

"The group is meeting up, something is going on," Orochimaru briefed the situation to Hakkotsu. Along with Yakushi Kabuto and the Sound Five, Hakkotsu was one of Orochimaru's most trusted men, not to mention that Hakkotsu had been with him the longest. Orochimaru often brought Hakkotsu anywhere he went, like when they were chasing the Hizashi boy, or when they scouted out the area to build Otogakure, and many times, when Orochimaru was summoned for an Akatsuki meeting. Hakkotsu knew Orochimaru like the back of her hand, she understood his every ways, habits and combat moves; but the only thing she could not understand was Orochimaru's lust for the Sharingan eye, unlike others, she understood that deep down, there was a more hidden agenda as to why he wanted the Uchiha bloodline ability so badly.

Akatsuki was an elite organisation considered of nine core members, and a few other shinobi and kunoichi who worked closely with the nine. Hakkotsu was considered the latter of the two, though limited in many ways because of her body, Hakkotsu was one of the best melee fighters they had, even better than some core members when it comes to taijutsu.

Travelling alone, the two of them went past the boundary separating the countries, and entered deeper into Fire Country, where indeed was hiding one of Akatsuki's many bases of operation around the world. On the outside appearance of this simple well-maintained temple, where a monk swept the floor daily, it was unguarded and slightly rundown. But in actual fact, the monk was but one of the many guards, most of which were creatures and monsters, minions of one of nine elites of the organisation, Kitahara Jiro.

Orochimaru and Hakkotsu walked by the monk without taking a glance, and entered a long corridor way. It must be a major event, Hakkotsu could sense the presences of many servants or partners of the supposed nine of Akatsuki, hiding in the shadows. 'Supposed' would descript the organisation perfectly, Akatsuki was created with the intention of gathering the nine most powerful shinobi, and yet, almost twelve years since their formation, two of the positions remained empty. There could only be one possible reason to summon all core members, could it be that the remaining two positions had been filled?

Soon, they came upon a heavy set of iron doors, where Orochimaru passed through it alone, beyond the doors was where only Akatsuki members could enter. For a brief while when the doors were opened, Hakkotsu could see the other members through the gap, none of them were in their Akatsuki attire, but as she guessed, she counted nine of them.

Cloaked in black silky materials, Jingi Kagetsu stared back at Hakkotsu as the doors opened and closed as it let Orochimaru passed through. Small and slender little woman, rumoured to be in her forties or maybe even fifties, yet seemingly in her teen, and though undoubtedly one of the physical weaker members, she held a high status for knowing their leader throughout her life.

Beside her was the Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame pair, after being recruited by the Uchiha, Kisame had served as his partner ever since. Clockwise to where the previous three stood, was the master of this lair, the quiet tall man in the noh costume and holding a wooden fan controlled all beasts in this underground lair. Next in the circle was Uchiha Massaki, and then the furthest away the rest were the two Hakkotsu assumed to be the eighth and ninth members of Akatsuki. Neither held any visible weapon, and from afar, she could tell nothing of them aside from their appearances. The male appeared to be the leader of the duo, he spot short dark hair, and when he turned, Hakkotsu noticed the orange piercing eyes on him. The female had long violet hair, and carried a common beige-coloured sling pouch by the waist.

As the iron door creaked close, Hakkotsu removed her glaze from the elite Missing-nins within the chamber to the others who waited for their masters outside like her, she recognised Motomiya Miyuki and Sagasu Yasurau by name, but there was one more she had never met before. There's a redhead, who tied a single cloth over his face as a sort of mask, the cloth had the calligraphy of the word 'thorn,' he carried two katanas, one with a blue grip, and the other with a red.

Akatsuki was finally finished, and Hakkotsu could not care less, taking out a deck of cards she 'borrowed' from Kabuto, she started reading them, the cards showed great details, from an up-to-date picture, to a small summary of the past happening, to their fortes, and to their skills. She flipped the first few cards to the back, until she came upon what she was looking for:

**- KABUTO'S INFO CARD -  
HIZASHI NARUTO**

**Allegiance:** Konohagakure, Fire Country  
**Rank:** Genin

**DOB:** October 10, XXXX  
**Age:** 12

**Hair:** Blond  
**Eyes:** Blue

**History:  
**Son of Hizashi Arashi and Uzumaki Kimiko, inheritor of  
the advanced bloodline ability, Kyuushuuryoku,  
which he once used before against Orochimaru.

His best technique is the toad summoning  
technique taught by Jiraiya, and has since then  
mastered the art of summoning different types of  
toads for different usage.

Putting the card at the back, Hakkotsu read out the next name in her hollowed voice, "Haruno… Sakura…"

**- KABUTO'S INFO CARD -  
HARUNO SAKURA**

**Allegiance:** Konohagakure, Fire Country  
**Rank:** Genin

**DOB:** March 28, XXXX  
**Age:** 12

**History:  
**Haruno Sakura is the container of the demon that  
attacked Konohagakure 12 years ago. She has  
neither unique jutsu, special traits, nor did she  
inherit her family techniques, but she has since  
recently showed potential demonic power, and has  
always been the smartest in her class.

She is moderately skill in genjutsu and ninjutsu  
but suffered greatly in taijutsu, especially with  
her strength and speed.

Hakkotsu sighed with disappointment, at not finding the statistic of the _true_ ability of Haruno Sakura, though she suspected the cards were greatly outdated by now. She was hoping for more, after all Sakura did have one powerful demon living inside of her. Continuing on, Hakkotsu flipped Sakura's info card to the back, revealing the stone cold face of…

**- KABUTO'S INFO CARD -  
UCHIHA SASUKE**

**Allegiance:** Konohagakure, Fire Country  
**Rank:** Genin

**DOB:** July 23, XXXX  
**Age:** 12

**Hair:** Black  
**Eyes:** Black

**History:  
**Uchiha Sasuke, a young Sharingan user,  
who has yet to show his true power. Son of the  
main house of the Uchiha, Sasuke was trained  
under both his father and his brother, Uchiha  
Itachi. After the death of the clan, Sasuke trained  
alone, but has yet to develop his bloodline. Though  
his Sharingan remained undeveloped, he is showing  
great potential to eventually master it.

His favourite jutsu techniques revolve around  
flame-type ninjutsu, and is known to be good  
in taijutsu as well.

Putting the stack of cards back inside her pocket, Hakkotsu rested against the wall, folding her arms, she soon fell asleep, pulled by an invisible force to dream…

_ "Hana, wake up," the young Hizashi shook the shoulder of a pink-haired kunoichi, a Chuunin by rank, but Jounin by standard._

_"Hmmm," Hana replied, rubbing her sleepy eyes with the thumb and index finger of one hand._

_Already a Hokage, the young Hizashi bore great responsibilities on his shoulders, but knowing Hana would be there for him, he knew he could undertake any tasks. But this time, it was no simple task, staking out at the Uchiha mansion could possibly be the hardest thing Hana had ever accomplish, the Uchihas were such a boring group of people. And days passed, without success at finding out anything._

_"Are we doing things right? We being here for a week, and nothing comes up yet," the Hokage commented, with his fingers pinching his own chin as he thought through what happened these few days. "Oh then again, it could be because you were sleeping all this time?"_

_Raising one brow, Hana smiled embarrassingly as she sat into sitting position, "Can't be help, it's a boring job."_

_Laughing, Arashi replied, "You should know how that I'm busy with my duties, else I will be taking part in keeping watch as well."_

_"Maybe we should call down the ANBU after all, I know you being a Hokage and all, but the Uchiha Secret can't be protected by just the few of us alone."_

_"You know the promise, the old man don't want people to know about it so soon."_

_"Then at least call for the Sennins, Tsunade-hime may be gone, and Jiraiya can't be found right now, but at least Orochi-"_

_The Hokage let out a sigh. "You honestly think that Orochimaru can be trusted?"_

_"I-" But Hana's words were cut off, as a pair of pale hands reached the door behind them, causing the wooden door to creak. "Intruder!"_

_"Who's there?!" the Hizashi snarled, as Hana drew her katana, instantly jumping into a battle stance._

Hakkotsu stirred, but remained asleep leaning against the wall, one nightmare led her to another…

_It was dark, the single moon in the sky was blocked by the shapes of men standing over her, she could not open an eye, and when she tried to open the other, blood from the wound above only tinted her vision red. They were saying something, but she could not catch onto it. She tried to yell, but blood flooded her throat as she did. She laid there broken and motionless, musing over the fact that she was going to die by drowning on her own blood._

"Hakkotsu, wake up," Orochimaru said as he shook her shoulder, rudely awakened from her dream, resulting in Hakkotsu almost attacking Orochimaru by reflex. "Snap out of it! I don't have time for all this!" he said instantly once he noticed the hostile intention Hakkotsu had for a brief moment.

Leaving Hakkotsu behind to clear her thoughts, Orochimaru walked on ahead, leaving the closing doors. Putting her kunai back in its holder, Hakkotsu followed Orochimaru out of the place.

* * *

**- Glossary -**

**#1 :: Hakkotsu** – Her name means 'skeleton'. She is not a member of Akatsuki, but of Otogakure.

**- Author's Note -**

All nine numbered Akatsuki members are mentioned in this chapter, along with all unnumbered partners, except for Tako. No one but the leader, Kagetsu and Orochimaru know of his existence.


	33. Team 8, Part II

**Act 5: Reminisce  
Chapter 33: Team 8 (II)  
**Updated on: 7 September, 2007

* * *

The world appeared to her in blurry manner, but yet in the centre of the unfocused picture, everything came magnified with deadly accuracy. Like viewing from the viewpoint of a bird of prey, Hinata tilted her head down slightly, watching the team of three unknown Cloud-nins approaching nearer.

Closing her eyes, she massaged them a little as she dropped down the tree branch she was hiding on. Once on the ground, two boys came to greet her, reopening her eyes to show her two teammates her two pearl-like pair of eyes but without the protruding veins around her eyes.

"They… are here," Hinata said softly, practically the only volume and tone she would only speak in. "And they are holding a Heaven scroll…"

"Let's do it then, guys?" Kiba said, showing one of his fangs with his smile.

Shino nodded once, using his index finger to push his sunglasses farther up his nose.

As the three of them were ready to go back to their designated position, something stirred on top of Kiba's head, causing him to call out suddenly, "Wait! Akamaru sensed something!"

"Hinata," Shino requested immediately, knowing what he wanted, Hinata quickly displayed out her Byakugan, looking in the direction where Akamaru was turning his head to.

Instantly, fear took over her, as she realised who she was looking at, meanwhile, at that very same moment, one of the three shinobi on the other end turned to look at her. Startled by his action, Hinata quickly deactivated her Byakugan.

"What's wrong, Hinata-chan?" Kiba asked worryingly on seeing her tensed expression.

"It's… Neji-nii-san," Hinata replied softly, as if afraid that someone might hear her.

"Hyuuga Neji, this is interesting," Shino commented.

"No it's not!" Kiba barked back, pointing a finger in the general direction of Neji's position, he continued, "His team is heading towards our target! We set up all those traps, luring them here for so long, and now they are going to take the Heaven scroll from us?"

"Hinata, what scroll is Neji holding onto?" Shino asked.

"I…," Hinata stuttered, her hands fingering the fabrics of her shirt nervously. "Well, I…"

"Hey, Shino, don't ask her to do such a difficult thing," Kiba said, seeing Hinata was in such a bad position, caught in between. Both of them knew about Hyuuga Neji, Hinata's older cousin, who she was very much afraid of.

"I…"

"It's okay, Hinata…," Shino said in the end, though he sounded slightly displeased.

Despite so, Hinata willed herself into taking one last look, dipping her head down, she prepared herself for her advanced bloodline ability. Suddenly, Hinata threw her head upwards, revealing once more the Byakugan. Zooming passed the trees and creatures in between them, she focused her sight on Neji, and saw a…

"An Earth scroll… Neji-nii-san is holding an Earth scroll, the same as us."

"He's going to take our Heaven scroll away from us," Shino stated once more, making it sounded like a fact.

"Look, Shino, there's no way we can… Let's go for another Heaven scroll instead, it's best that we do not meet head on with those three."

"I'm okay with that, it's still early," Shino said, again sounding a bit unhappy about having to hunt for another target whereby such a close target they had been tagging for so long would be lost to them soon.

"Wait!" Hinata suddenly spoke up, surprising both Shino and Kiba. "Let's… let's try our best… to get the scroll…"

"You sure about that, Hinata-chan?" Kiba asked.

Shino looked down at Hinata, and could see her determination set in her eyes, and chose to say nothing knowing that Hinata had already made up her mind.

"I'm sure of it, I know him too well, if we can get the scroll before he did, he would have to admit that he lost to us. Kiba-kun, Shino-kun, let's do it," Hinata said.

Even before Kiba had the chance to response on Hinata's behaviour, Shino started talking again, "The traps we set are too far away from our target, Neji's team would sooner meet up with them than they falling into our traps. We will need to move our traps closer, and if possible, delay Neji's team from getting any closer before we can obtain the scroll."

Though Shino was usually the quiet sort of person, when there was a need to rush thing forward, or to organise something urgently, Kiba always found that Shino would stand forward to lead them. And it was this cool-headed nature of his, that Kiba and Hinata always followed his directions without objections.

"We will not be able to detach our current traps and move them physically forward. We will need to make new one at the new location, Hinata, you will need to survey a new location for us, and then continue lead our targets towards it, be very aware of our's and Neji's positions. Kiba, you will have to construct new traps at the new location."

"What about you, Shino-kun?"

"I will delay Neji's team."

"What?! Will you be able to do that?" Kiba asked.

"I will not meet them personally, don't worry, when everything is ready, we will communicate through the bugs I gave to both of you."

Hinata petted gently on her pouch where her beetle was.

"I still find the beetle to be disgusting," Kiba commented dryly.

Hinata laughed gently, possibly at the fact that she had no problem handling the bug, while Kiba and Akamaru disliked it so much. Though it's true that the three bugs allowed the three of them to communicate long distance, and it did save them a couple of problems.

"Okay, let's finish this as soon as possible," Shino said, reaching out one hand to the centre of the three of them. Each of the two placed one hand on top of Shino's, and the three of them immediately disappeared, jumping off at different directions.

**x**

_"Is that Hinata?"_

"Neji-kun, are you listening?" Tenten's voice came from behind, waking Neji up from his musing. "How about it, Neji-kun?"

"Huh? Sorry, I wasn't paying attention…," Neji said, turning around to face his teammates.

Summarising the current situation to him, Lee continued for Tenten, "Neji-kun, there's a group of Genins up ahead, shall we go for it?"

"Let's do it," Neji said in the end, putting the thoughts of Hinata behind him. Looking back at Lee and Tenten, he gave them an instruction, "We are going after the Cloud team in front of us."

"In that case, I will scout ahead first, see you guys there," Tenten said before speeding up ahead, quickly disappearing beyond the giant branches.

It was not long before a yell was heard, surprised at that it was the scream of their teammate, both Neji and Lee looked at each other, before picking up their pace. Brushing by canopy of the forest, the two of them appeared to see Tenten fending off the attack of a huge insect. Like a hybrid between a stag beetle and a wingless wasp, the huge insect **(#1) **with black carapace armour was easily ten times bigger than Tenten, and it was moving at an amazing speed.

"Tenten! Are you all right?!" Neji called out, as the both of them joined in the fight.

"I'm okay, just startled, you guys should see how fast this creature crawled out of the dirt, it almost caught me," Tenten shouted as she landed on ground level, leaping off when the monster came crashing down soon after.

"What is this?! It's so hard that none of my attacks are working!" Lee shouted, sending a flurry of kicks against the monster's head, like feeling nothing at all, it continued its chase against Tenten.

Sending a volley of kunai and various, Tenten aimed all her weapons at the meat hiding under the thick armour plates, but again nothing seemed to affect it even when a few of the kunai dug themselves deeply into the creature's flesh.

Neji paused for a second to think, looking around, he was beginning to suspect something. _"Something's wrong, such creature is not letting up even with all these punishments?"_

Tenten's scream brought him back to reality. Tenten moaned in pain, almost sent into unconscious by the shock alone, as she became pinned against a huge tree by the monster's beetle-like horn.

"Tenten!" Lee shouted, as he continued to attack the thick horn, but it only caused the insect to push itself forward, crushing Tenten. As the girl was struggling to breath, Neji decided to use his Byakugan.

"Byakugan!" Neji shouted, turning his head to look at the creature, he saw several small pockets of chakra patterns. "What's that?! Is the creature being controlled by… chakra?"

"Neji-kun! Help us out!" Lee shouted at him.

Ignoring him, Neji instead looked around, without having to look much further, he saw a small glowing orb of chakra a short distance away. Sending a kunai in that direction without missing a heartbeat, his Byakugan eyes told him that his aim was true, as the small orb of chakra had disappeared immediately. Turning to look at his companions, it appeared the monster had backed up, as if confused, it removed its hold against Tenten.

As Tenten slipped down onto the soil, suddenly the monster charged again, but before it could hit Tenten again, Lee jumped in and grabbed Tenten away from danger. Turning his Byakugan eyes around, he was alarmed to see not one, but two chakra presences.

_"What?!"_

Sending two kunai at the two points of chakra concentration, he saw that neither of them dodged, but instead just dispersed themselves away before getting hit. As the insect continued its attack on Lee and the injured Tenten, Neji was surprised to see that now there were hundreds of glowing chakra orbs all around them.

Giving up on the idea of hitting the strange presences on his own, he joined in the fight against the monster. Slipping in under the monster without even caring about it crashing down on him should it notice, he used his kunai to cut the underneath of the bug. The pain stunned the creature for a short while, but long enough for Neji to give Tenten his instruction.

"Tenten! Shoot all you got everywhere! There's someone hiding nearby controlling the bug!"

"Wh- Okay, Neji-kun!" Tenten shouted as she armed herself with a scroll in each hand from her pouch. Spinning around furiously, she used her thumbs to peel off the edge, the moment they opened, smoke sipped through, following by a never-ending supply of kunai, throwing knives, daggers and shuriken out. "Whoever you are, you are seriously pissing me off! Bouseki Soushouryu **(#2)**!" All the bladed projectiles thrown by her flew around aimlessly, but so strong was the impact of each blade, that trees fell while even the giant bug was pinned against a huge rock by the constant blow from each hit, even if none of the blades actually penetrated its armour.

As both Neji and Lee were madly trying to dodge the attack, jumping at every corner, spinning around at every turn. Tenten suddenly stopped, panting hard, when she felt something falling onto her skin – sunlight. The technique was so powerful that she had managed to clear the small area of the trees single-handedly.

"Well? Is he gone?" Tenten asked under her breath.

The frightened giant insect decided to retreat, quickly digging its claws, making an amazingly fast escape by burrowing itself away into the dirt. Neji looked around with his Byakugan still activated, he could detected no major chakra signatures around them.

"He's gone…," Neji said, as he could not help thinking that even if the attacker was not hit at all, with all of the trees and covers were now gone, there was no place for him to hide anymore.

Meanwhile, none of them realised that someone was looking through the eyes of a harmless looking spider hanging on a surviving tree trunk. Several miles away, Shino was impressed with their fighting ability, he knew for certain that if he had been the one taking the punishing from Lee's kicks, Tenten's kunai, and Neji's punches, he would not have last at all. He was even more impressed with how fast Neji detected him, Tenten's destructive capability, and Lee's speed. Good thing that he was well far away when she did that, not to mention that thankfully, he had sent out countless his bugs, spreading them all over the place, channelling out false signals of chakra.

Dropping back on the ground, he kneeled down for a second, touching the soil with his hand, thanking the huge insect for his aid. Looking back, he wondered if he might get to fight with the three of them once more.

**x**

Certainly everyone in the forest could hear the roar of trees being fell, Hinata and Kiba did. Freezing at what they were doing, they stared off into the distance where birds were still flying away from the damaged portion of the forest. Hinata's hands were still frozen still on the stick she was holding on to, trying to peel off the poisonous leeches Kiba had unleashed on the on the scroll the unsuspecting Cloud Genins were holding on to, she looked at Kiba who already found the scroll they were looking for.

"What the heck did you think happened?" Kiba asked.

Just moments ago, the three Cloud-nins fell into their traps, soon after they tried to contact Shino, who chose to ignore them. It was not long after that the incredibly loud crashing noise roared in the forest, awakening every single nocturnal creatures out there.

"It almost sounded like someone just decided to do a trimming job on this oversized forest," Kiba replied, answering his own question.

Realising the sun was about to go down, Kiba quickly continued his job of wiping the remaining slime off the scroll using a jacket that one of the fallen Genins was wearing. It was about then that Shino walked in calmly with his hands in his pockets.

"Shino-kun, are you hurt?!" Hinata asked, being the first to notice his return.

Kiba started to show his way of expressing worry by shouting at Shino, "Why didn't you answer our calls? I almost squished my beetle to death!

"Sorry, I was trying to gain us some more time," Shino replied, seeing a scroll on Kiba's hands, he assumed the best. "Got the scroll already?"

Kiba nodded, while Hinata came over to Shino's side to examine any wounds (which she did not find any).

"What the heck did you do to them anyway?! Everyone would have heard that by now," Kiba questioned.

Almost breaking into a smile, Shino said coolly, "Nothing really, but they are quite as good as you said they are, Hinata."

Surprised by his behaviour, the two of them looked at each other.

"Come on guys, we better get moving, they may catch up to us if we linger any longer."

"Going somewhere?" Tenten spoke through the shadows, revealing her position very close to Team 8, alarming the three of them, neither Kiba's senses nor Hinata's sight had detected her arrival. The three of them spun around, arming themselves while Kiba quickly stuff the scroll into his jacket, patting it to make sure it was safe next to him.

Two other figures appeared right beside Tenten, Rock Lee swung from another branch, and landed gracefully in a half-kneeling position, while Hyuuga Neji just dropped from nowhere.

"Neji… nii-san," Hinata whispered to herself, her eyes narrowed with worries.

"Hinata-sama," Neji silently replied in return.

While Kiba did not witness for himself the fight just now, Shino knew how skilfully Neji's team defended themselves against the ancient insect that could have easily dominate most.

"Hinata, Kiba," Shino said in monotonous manner, almost no hint of the danger that was threatening them. "Will you believe me, if I say that we can defeat them right now with their current state?"

"Oh?" Tenten answered back instead, "You are so certain?" Cracking her knuckles, Tenten was already beginning to formulate a plan. "Neji-kun, Lee, please let me handle this." Worrying about Tenten's current state of agitation, Lee looked at Neji for an answer, but as expected, Neji decided to leave Tenten alone, probably not caring what would happen to Hinata's team.

"Hina-"

However, even before Shino could finish his sentence, Tenten had already started attacking, while both Neji and Lee removed themselves from the battle. Leaping off from where she stood, she jumped down towards them with hands wide opening. To the unseen eyes, her hands remained still, but faster than anyone of them could see were throwing knives of all sorts flying towards (mainly) Shino.

"Shino-kun, look out!" Hinata shouted, even without Byakugan activated, Hinata could sense something coming. Shoving Shino away with all her might, she knocked Shino down with her body, pushing Shino out of harm's way. The stunned Shino and Hinata landed roughly against the dirt, looking at where Shino's feet were last touching the ground, clouds of dust rose, telling them that several objects came crashing down with heavy brute force.

"Why, you!" Kiba threw himself forward, seeking to catch Tenten with his 'claws', but she blocked each and every one of his attacks with a kunai or two. Shino lifted Hinata up from his body, and quickly joined in the fight, but even with two against one, Tenten could still manage on her own, though perspires were starting to show as she was forced into putting in more effort.

"Stop it!" Hinata shouted, but neither party acknowledged her request.

The three of them fought on for almost a minute, as Hinata continued trying desperately to stop them. Even for a weapon mistress like Tenten like herself, she had a limit, and Kiba and Shino were pushing it close for her. She constantly cast a glare over to where Neji and Lee were, worrying that they might jump in and help her. Tenten did not want that, she knew of the powers held by her teammates, even among the three of them, she had always been the weakest. She will not accept that! Motivated, Tenten pushed herself beyond her normal limit, her fingers moved faster than anyone could see, swinging kunai at every opportunity, Kiba and Shino themselves did not realise soon enough that they were being cut here and there, causing multiple bleeding wounds all over their bodies. However, Kiba ignored the pain, and sent an unexpected kick towards her, but his movement was too slow, as Tenten could already see it coming. Preparing to dodge it, she suddenly realised that Shino had already retreated, while learning that she could no longer move her body! Looking up, she found Shino maintaining a jutsu on her **(#3)**, whatever it was, it was preventing her from escaping Kiba's kick.

Bracing for impact, Lee jumped in between them, quickly knocking Shino off his feet, and kicking Kiba, sending him flying. Suddenly freed from her paralysing effect, Tenten cursed and swore to herself, in the end, she still needed the help of Lee.

"Tenten!" Lee called out, seeing Tenten in a daze.

Ignoring Lee, Tenten slumped down onto the ground.

"Tenten," a voice called again, this time it was Neji.

Looking up, Tenten smiled weakly, reply, "I'm okay, I'm just tired."

Relieved that his teammate was okay, Lee focused his attention on Kiba and Shino.

"Hinata-sama, hand over the scroll," Neji said, walking out from the covers of the shadows, to where Tenten was.

Both Tenten and Lee understood him well enough that he said that just to taunt Hinata, knowing that he was not the kind of person to take a scroll from an obviously weaker team.

Shino and Kiba regrouped by the sides of Hinata, while Shino wiped a thread of blood from the corner of his lips, Kiba placed one hand over the opening of the pocket, making sure that the scroll was still in there.

"Kiba-kun," Hinata said while reaching out one hand, "Please give me the scroll."

An expression of shock came onto Kiba's face, "Wh- Whaaat?!"

"Please."

Redundantly, Kiba took out the scroll, and passed it to Hinata. Holding it tightly with both hands, Hinata challenged Neji.

"Do not hurt my friends anymore! If you want it, you will have to take it from me!" Hinata shouted out her thoughts, all this time holding the scroll even tighter, pressing it against her body.

For the next few seconds, protests from her teammates went unheard, while Neji himself ignored his teammates as well. The two cousins from the house of Hyuuga were alone in this battlefield, though Hinata did not want to fight him so soon, she knew that it was the matter of time.

"Hmph, you seem to have grown stronger since the last time we met, Hinata-sama," Neji said without any exchange in expression. Lee lifted Tenten's arm over his shoulders, while Neji turned to walk away. "Take that scroll with you, Hinata, and we will meet again in the third test, then I will gladly beat you in a one-on-one."

Even after the three of them left, Hinata, Kiba and Shino remained on the field, knowing that what Neji said was true, they might meet again in the third test. With the determination in their minds, the three of them head towards the direction of the tower.

* * *

**- Glossary -**

**#1 :: Huge Insect** – Not a jutsu, Shino is merely asking for help from insectoid(s) with the help of his handy bugs.  
**#2 :: Bouseki Soushouryu** – Spinning Rising Twin Dragons, a variation of the Soushouryu Tenten used in the anime, whereby using two scrolls to create a series of never-ending 360 degree projectile attack.  
**#3 :: Leg Paralysed** – Not a jutsu, Shino used his bugs to hold and sap energy from the victim, paralysing them.

**- Author's Note -**

Chapter 33 was a headache, even until now I feel that it is not truly completed, I have wanted the intention of showing a match between Neji and Hinata, but I constantly find it inappropriate somehow. My other focus on this chapter is the match between Shino and Tenten. I always felt Tenten was too weak, she only had ONE panel of action during the Chuunin exam, that's why she got boosted in this fic, not just Tenten, a lot of other characters are boosted to match the level the fights that will be going on. And well, for Lee and Kiba, they are extras for this chapter.

FYI, in the manga, Team 8 used a trap involving poisonous leeches to capture a team of Leaf Genins, I'm just expanding on this.


	34. Team 10, Part II

**Act 5: Reminisce  
Chapter 34: Team 10 (II)  
**Updated on: 7 September, 2007

* * *

Everything happened so fast, one minute she was dominating the fight between the two Genins from the Leaf Genin and herself, the next minute this pink-haired girl unleashed strokes after strokes of excellent swordsmanship, eventually breaking her mask, revealing her face for the first time. Things could not have gotten any worse, not only was she saved by the third member of the Genin team she was trying to eliminate, Zabuza died under the hands of that Kakashi.

As she released her ultimate technique on everyone and everything, she was not caring one bit to anything that might be happening to her. Her mind was already a blank as Gatou went down, and eventually, one of her own ice shards engulfed her as well, bringing her down along with the body of the only person she cared about.

Sinking further down the river, sweeping away by the currents, her seemingly lifeless eyes constantly keep track of the movement of Zabuza's body, trying to reach out to him with her hands. As the two of them went deeper into the abyss, her numbed body failed to sense the presence of a third, who dived down to save her, grabbing her collar with one hand, pulling her up.

Instinct told Haku to breathe as her face surfaced, still resisting her rescuer, Haku tried to pull herself free from the strong firm gasp holding onto her tiny frame. In the end, her body coughed out the water she swallowed, as her conscious was slowly regaining normality, Haku realised what was happening. Momochi Zabuza was dead, and here she was, alive. Casting her sad eyes onto her 'saviour', she mentally questioned the gods and deities of her cruel fate, and finally the urge to demand an answer from her 'saviour' as well. Her unique advanced bloodline ability saved her from the cold, and this stranger saved her from drowning. Her golden hair, her huge set of bosoms, and an assistant of some sort holding onto a pinkish round pig, everything about her gave off an aura of power and prominence, but she could not help hating her.

Using her remaining strength, Haku pushed herself into a sitting position, however, extremely exhausted from using Daidaiteki Kogoeshinu no Jutsu, Haku could barely form words with her mouth.

Accomplishing nothing, the worn out Haku fell backwards back onto her back, her eyes fading off to unconsciousness.

Shizune kneeled down beside her, placing one hand on Haku's body, channelling chakra in the form of heat and warmness over to Haku's cold body.

"Never mind her," Tsunade said, her head constantly turning around, looking out for signs of Naruto and Kakashi. "She will live. And because we saved her, we have lost Naruto in the process."

"But, Tsunade-sama! We can't just leave her down at the bottom of the river!" Shizune protested.

Tsunade shrugged her shoulders, "I didn't mean that we shouldn't have save her, it's just that Naruto might need our help, since he used… his bloodline ability, to protect this girl."

Several hours passed, and by the time Haku had regained consciousness, night had already taken over, voices from conversation flooded into her ears waking her from her slumber. The voices were unfamiliar to her, trying to recall whose voices they belonged to, Haku finally remembered of the fight before, and of Zabuza's death. Tears started to uncontrollably roll down her cheeks, slipping one hand out of the warm blanket, she lifted it to her face, and quickly wiped the tears away with her fingers.

Opening her eyes to take a look at the speakers, she realised the voices from a seemingly one-sided argument belonged to none other than the two women who saved her from drowning. How many days had passed Haku wondered as she tried to listen in to what they said.

"As I was saying, Shizune," Tsunade said. "You shouldn't worry too much, the money is safe with me." Juggling in one hand, a small money pouch, filled with coins by the sound of it.

Smiling a losing battle, Shizune hugged Ton-ton closer to her chest, much to the discomfort of the little pet pig.

"But Tsunade-sama…"

"What? Are you accusing me of not being able to take care of our own money?"

"But Tsunade-sama, we worked hard to get such a sum, this money is for this week's expenses… Besides, we really need to start saving up to pay off all those debts," Shizune answered. Haku could have sworn that the pig in Shizune's hands nodded once in agreement.

"Don't worry, I'm just going to buy a ticket with this."

"A ticket?"

"For this girl over here," Tsunade said, looking at the bedridden Haku. "She's going to Konohagakure."

Had Haku was in perfect health, she would have instantly bolted upright, but right now, all she could do was to look surprised. Haku tried to be as calm as she usually was, but at her current state of health, the news came so sudden to her, that she almost chocked herself to death. After her fits of coughing finally settled down, there were so many questions she wanted to ask, but she finally settled with this simple question: "Why…?"

Shizune looked as surprised as Haku was, while Tsunade got the chance to explain everything to the two of them. Looking at Haku, Tsunade said, "That brat, Naruto, he saved you didn't he?"

Images of Naruto using his ability, shiny golden sparks flying off from his hands, blocking the blow from Sakura, came into Haku's mind. Shaking the thought of Naruto out of her mind, Haku focused her attention on Tsunade.

"You were saved by that kid, don't you think you should repay his kindness?"

"Repay…?"

"Naruto is in danger, Haku. And the two of us are too busy to leave Wave Country, for now, we need someone to keep an eye on him," Tsunade continued.

"But, why me?"

"Good question, why you, why an enemy? Why the 'killer' of that boy, Sasuke? Why not help that girl, Sakura? Why did he choose to use his precious advanced bloodline to save you? Why did he choose to risk his life to save you?"

"Why…?"

"Because, he is Naruto, he is that kind of boy, like his father, he would risk everything to save those who are precious to him."

"Precious… to him? Me?"

"Haku, take your time and think it through, our demands may seem difficult, since Naruto and yourself barely met, but… Take your time, sleep on the decision, we still have a few days before you will be able to walk anyway. Until then, think on it, whether you should want to help Naruto or not, it's up to you."

"Please, Haku-chan," Shizune begged, slapping both of her palms together in a pleading motion.

The night came uneasy, even with the noisy Tsunade out of the room, Haku could barely sleep, the though of Zabuza was on her mind, but occasionally, the image of the blue-eyed boy, and his golden hair would visit her in her scattered dreams. There was something fascinating about that boy that attracted Haku, something that Haku finally decided to find out for herself, with her mind settled on the matter, sleep came naturally.

Deep in her dream, a voice called out to her, a voice belonging to a young boy of her age.

_"Because, all of us have a dream, and you can't do anything if you are dead… Haku-chan."_

**x**

Shikamaru did not attempt to be calm in the face of the news of Ino's kidnapping, throughout all his life, Shikmaru had imagined himself to be living through a normal shinobi life, maybe raising to the Chuunin rank, and start doing normal boring missions until he settle down with... someone. The death of a war hero, Yamanaka Inoichi, and the kidnapping of his classmate, Yamanaka Ino, this two shocking news seemed so surreal.

He was surprised when his and Chouji's fathers decided to bring their sons along for the mission to retrieve Ino, but he was even more surprised when he realised that he was looking forward to it, to find Ino, and get her back. Certainly, Ino was just a classmate of his, but it was just the idea of a friend in need of help that pushed him towards this enthusiastic behaviour. In the end, their instructor, Sarutobi Asuma came along as well, adding up the party to five members.

Slowly, Shikamaru realised that he was changing, growing perhaps, during the trip with Chouji and their dads, he learned new jutsu with the attitude of wanting to grow. When questioned by his father on why he was so eager to learn, he only shrugged it away, claiming that he was bored anyway. Deep inside, he knew that he would need to know more than just simple jutsu to protect the people he loved, his father maybe, his closest friend maybe, or...

Shikamaru knew that he was growing stronger very minute they spent in the forest, chasing after the shadowy figure carrying Ino. Every once in a while, they would see the back of the kidnapper they were chasing, the tiny frame, slender figure, and the agile movement made them realised that they were chasing a woman.

After two weeks of pursuing, the five of the acknowledged the fact that they had lost their target, saddened but not giving up, they continued searching. Another two weeks passed by, as the five of them were finally recalled back to Konohagakure. It was then, shortly after the debriefing, Team 10 went for another mission, this time to retrieve Team 7. On the way there, Shikamaru briefly walked by a girl who a pleasant looking face, for some reason, throughout his stay in Wave Country, he could not get the thought of that girl out of his mind. Shortly after returning with Team 7, Team 10 receiving another startling news from the Hokage, that they would get a replacement for the missing Ino. And this replacement was none other than the girl Shikamaru met on the harbour in Wave Country, her name was Haku.

In his head, Shikamaru was furious about someone replacing their Ino, he was never really a close friend of Ino, but he found the thought of someone replacing Ino's empty position repulsive. Though Haku was a polite and likeable girl, Shikamaru continued to treat her coldly, until one day, when Haku asked him why.

"Shikamaru, is there something wrong about me?" Haku asked as she joined Shikamaru at the barbeque table in the little humid eatery shop. Sitting on the opposite side of the usual table Team 10 would always meet, the two of them arrived there the earliest, now waiting for Asuma and Chouji.

"Huh?" the boy replied without looking at Haku, all the while resting his head against the wall, looking out of the windows into the open street, his voice giving off the pure essence of laziness.

"Why are you treating me so coldly?" Haku asked.

Shikamaru was planning not to answer her, but he did not know what possessed him to reply the way he was going to, "Why are you here?"

"I am here… to protect someone," Haku said, without faltering.

"Protect?" Shikamaru asked back, this time lifting his head from the wall, and looking into the eyes of Haku.

"I understand that you probably do not want me to take the place of Ino-chan, but I need to be here. I can understand how you feel, when someone you like very much is so far away from you."

"'Like'? What are you talking about?"

"I met a few girls from your class, they told me, that sometimes you look at Ino-chan differently than others."

"!" Shikamaru did not reply to that, he was too surprised to do so. However, his facial expressions answered everything for him, he was clearly not expecting this.

"Sometimes, outsiders can see things clearer than what we can ourselves. Perhaps you didn't realise it yourself, that you may be caring about Ino-chan for a reason more than just because the two of you were in the same class."

"I promise you, Shikamaru, that after the Chuunin exam is over, when my mission is over, let's look for Ino-chan again."

**x**

Team 10 stood by the gate, anxious to enter the Forest of Death. For Haku, this exam might be the finale for her, but for Shikamaru, it would only be the beginning.

They spent the next two days searching, and running, exploring the depths of the forest. There were times when they fought against other teams, there were times when the scrolls they found were the same as theirs, and then there were times when they fled realising that their enemies were out of their league, one such example was when they encountered the a team from Wind Country. Seeing the little portrait on Kabuto's card, they realised who he was when he appeared before them, his name was Gaara.

**x**

"Haku! Wake up! Do not die on us!" Shikamaru shouted, cradling the body of Haku in his arms. His face was full of cuts, his side bleeding. Turning his head sharp, he looked at the other boy hiding behind a tree. "Chouji! Where are they?!"

Chouji, who was looking out, was not in the best of shape, his eyes showed dark circles around them, his cheerful face was replaced with fear.

"Chouji!"

Waking to the present, Chouji reported back to Shikamaru, "I- I can't see them anymore, I think we have lost them." Looking at Shikamaru, who appeared rather pale in complexion, Chouji asked in concern, "Are you all right, Shikamaru?"

"Don't worry about me, Chouji, I'm fine, just a cut from that puppet from just now." Biting his lower lips, Shikamaru took a deep breath, recapping what happened. Just an hour, Team 10 encountered a team led by Gaara of the Desert, and naturally a fight ensured between them. While Haku, no doubt the strongest among the three of them, fought off Gaara, Shikamaru and Chouji worked together against Temari and Kankurou.

In the heat of battle, just when Shikamaru managed to corner off one of the siblings, and almost knocking her out, a voice came from the other side of the battlefield. Haku was caught in one of Gaara's jutsu. Quickly abandoning his target, Shikamaru turned to use one of his shadow jutsu on Gaara, halting his movement just long enough for Chouji to come into the picture, punching Gaara right in the face, and then pulling Haku out while he was stunned. Since then, the three of them had been fleeing from the team of Wind Country.

Thirty minutes passed since they lost sight with the enemies, and Haku had since then been slipping in and out of consciousness, mumbling strange things of Ton-ton, Naruto and Zabuza-sama.

"Chouji…"

"Huh?" Chouji asked, still looking out behind the tree, looking for any signs of movement.

"One of them is here, Chouji."

"What?!" Chouji shouted, turning around, to face Shikamaru, who warily pointed to one corner of the forest in front of him. Looking up at where his friend pointed, Chouji saw one of the members from the previous Sand team standing on top of a tree branch.

Smirking devilishly, Temari slowly took out the huge fan from her back while ignoring Chouji. "Well, let's settle our fight shall we?"

"Chouji, take Haku and run, there's only one of them, I can handle her," Shikamaru said, his facial expression hardened with determination.

"What…?" Chouji shouted, he could not believe what Shikamaru was telling him to do.

"Chouji, go!" Shikamaru shouted in return, picking himself up, he readied himself for his second battle against Temari.

"I can't leave you behind!"

"Just go, I will catch up shortly," Shikamaru said again, this time he reassured his request with a smile. "Don't worry, Chouji."

"Thinking too lightly of me, haven't you?" Temari said, swinging her fan around, she glided down, landing gently onto the ground.

"Chouji, please listen to me, bring Haku to a safe place, and wait for me there. Please, Chouji."

"I…"  
_"No! Shikamaru! Why are you telling me to leave you behind?! I can't do that!"_

"Go! Now!" Shikamaru finally snapped, quickly bending down to his knees, he picked up Haku's body and threw her over to Chouji.

Catching it roughly, he held the unconscious Haku in his big hands. _"Shikamaru, I will wait for you, please come back safely."_

Turning around, he placed Haku over his shoulder, and started running, speeding away into the covers of the forest.

Seeing Chouji leaving the scene calmed Shikamaru down a lot, knowing that his best friend would not have to see him die now. Though stronger in terms of thinking strategically, and excellent in planning ahead with his tactics, he knew that with the bleeding wound Kankurou's puppet had gave him would be his downfall. Grasping onto the side wound, pressing against it, he did not want to think about it, but the certainly of death was becoming higher by the second.

_"There is no time to spare, I will only get one shot on this… Just now, while we rested here, I set up a quick trap, and it's still intact, if I can…"_

"Stop running!" Temari shouted, swinging her fan, creating huge gust of strong wind. "They called you 'Shikamaru', didn't they? My name is Temari! Be sure to remember that when I send you to hell!"

Dodging the strong currents, Shikamaru slipped in and out of the covers, though the whole forest cast down a huge connecting shadow due to the late afternoon sun, the current shadow was too weak in density for him to manipulate. Yet, he had not reach the stage whereby he could increase the intensity of the shadow by moving them closer like his father could, but fortunately for him, Temari had yet to realise how close she was standing to his trap, now if only he could close in on her close enough to lead her in.

"Fool! You think I will fall for your trick again? I saw the way you fight just now, you are a shadow-manipulator, but as long as I keep my distance with you, I'll be safe!" Temari shouted, and demonstrated her ability by using the fan to blow Shikamaru away from her. "And how about this?!" Lifting her fan up, she brought it down hard, creating another strong wind, this time aiming at the canopies of the forest.

As branches of the trees themselves threatened to be blown apart by the strong wind, leaves fell, allowing the sunlight to penetrate. The shadow provided by the canopies faded off as sunlight shot down rays of light onto the ground towards them. Though the concentration of the remaining shadows became stronger, Shikamaru's territory was diminishing rapidly.

"Shit," Shikamaru cursed. _"There is still this one last chance, it's now or never, once all the shades are gone, my trap will be exposed! If I had not spent so much energy in the previous fight and the setting up the trap, I would be able to use Kagemane no Jutsu _**(#1)**_ on her…"_

But even before Shikamaru could do anything, Temari noticed for herself an odd patch of grass in between the two of them, circular in shape, and yet darker in colour despite having no cover above it blocking the sun. "What's this?"

_"Shit! She noticed it!"_

"Hehe, is this all you got? A trap?" Temari said, but observing the ground closer, she realised that this strange circle of darkness was actually sucking off the brightness around it. _"What is it?! It almost feel like…"_

"Heh, why don't you take a step in, and try out for yourself?"

"It feels like…," Temari whispered to herself, while still keeping an eye on Shikamaru, seeing a small pebble near her feet, she kicked it into the circle. To her surprise, as the pebble rolled into the trap, it immediately fell through as if it was a hollow ground **(#2)**.

Taking the chance that Temari was distracted, Shikamaru dashed forward, carefully skipping over the makeshift hollow ground, bringing forward his kunai in his hands.

"Not in your dreams!" Temari shouted, quickly taking notice of Shikamaru's manoeuvre brought fans down again, this time hitting Shikamaru right in the face. Using it as a bat, she hit Shikamaru once more at his injured side.

"Shikamaru!" Chouji yelled as he ran in from behind.

Surprised, Temari quickly turned around, facing the direction where the other voice and the heavy thumping of the footsteps came from, just in time to receive a heavy blow to the gut. The punch sent her backward, but carefully flipping over the trap, she crashed hard against the trunk of a tree. Immediately counter-attacking, she swung her fan again, but Chouji activated his Baika no Jutsu **(#3)**. No matter how she fanned him, the now heavier Chouji refused to budge.

"Chouji! Why did you came back?!"

"Shikamaru! I… I will never leave anyone behind ever again!" Chouji shouted as he tucked his heads and limbs into his enlarged body, rolling on the spot for a short while before charging forward **(#4)**. Having not enough time to dodge it, Temari was forced into blocking the charge with her fan, pushed against her will, being pressed between the tree and the fan. Eventually the hard turning of the spinning motion forced the fan to slip out of her hands, as her body had to absorb the full impact.

Injured, but far from over, Temari squatted down, and delivered an upwards kick at the base of the spinning ball, sending it flying. As Chouji's spin was unravelled at the impact, he saw Temari picking up the fan, and threw it at him like a javelin. The blunt end of the fan hit him right in the face, but Temari scaled the trees and sent another kick at the boy.

Suddenly grabbing hold of her leg, Chouji yelled as he spun in mid-air, sending Temari spinning with him. After a while, as Chouji descended closer to the ground, he finally let go, making Temari having a crashed landing, scrapping her flesh against the ragged terrain. Just when Temari struggled to stand back on her legs, Chouji picked up her fan, and threw it back at her, sending her flying once more out of his sight.

As Chouji breathed heavily, awaiting Temari's comeback, Shikamaru realised that she must had taken that chance to escape already.

"Chouji," Shikamaru said, gasping hard on air. "She's probably gone, Chouji."

"Huh? Really?" Chouji said, as suddenly a loud puncture sound whistled loudly as Chouji rapidly deflate in size.

"Chouji, why did you came back?"

"Shikamaru, I realise that you aren't the only one who should always make the decision, sometimes, I need to decide on what I need to protect as welll."

"Hmph," Shikamaru mumbled, and smiled as Chouji walked over to his side, and helped him up.

"Come on, Shikamaru, I hid Haku somewhere, we better find her before I forget which cave I put her in."

**x**

"You look like you're in a pretty bad shape…," Kankurou teased as Temari walked in trying to hide her injuries.

"Never mind me, how's Gaara?"

"Bah! He's still blowing his top off over that kid punching him in the face, his sand armour **(#5)** was penetrated by a lucky punch after all."

"That was no lucky shot, that kid, he got the strength behind those fists."

"Oh dear, my sister has fallen in love," Kankurou shrugged, expecting his sister to hit him anytime soon with the huge fan of hers. But he looked up in surprise, seeing Temari deep in thought.

_"Those two, I hope they survive, the battle between us isn't over yet!"_

* * *

**- Glossary -**

**#1 :: Kagemare no Jutsu** – Shadow Imitation Technique.**  
#2 :: Hollow Ground** – One of Shikamaru's new jutsu, which I nicknamed it as Senjin Anaboko no Jutsu, which is a high class jutsu which allows Shikamaru to temporary make a bottomless hole leading to nowhere on the ground. When the timer expires, those who dropped in will be returned to the surface.  
**#3 :: Baika no Jutsu** – Multi-size Technique.  
**#4 :: Nikudan Sensha** – Meat Tank.  
**#5 :: Suna no Yoroi** – Armour of the Sand, Gaara's secondary line of defence, sand and chakra mixed together to form a thin layer of skin protecting Gaara.

**- Author's Note -**

I know this chapter is extremely confusing with just one read, I jumped around the timeline without much explanation. Anyway, the initial fight between Team 10 and Team Sand is never the focus of this chapter, only the parts of Haku accepting the mission from Tsunade, Shikamaru accepting Haku's place among them, and Chouji's physical growth matter anyway.


	35. Team 7, Part V

**Act 5: Reminisce  
Chapter 35: Team 7 (V)  
**Updated on: 8 September, 2007

* * *

A few hours into the second test, Mitarashi Anko was already well underway enjoying a light meal on a wooden bench, just outside one of the gates of the Forest of Death.

"Big trouble, Anko-sama!" a Chuunin yelled as he dropped in with a puff of smoke. "Bodies! Three of them!"

Putting aside the snack back onto the plate, Anko took a sip of the tea from the cup before calming questioning the Chuunin.

"Bodies?"

"And they are weird, please come!" the Chuunin announced, still in a half-kneeling position.

Putting on a frown, Anko quickly followed the Chuunin to the scene of the crime. Arriving at the scene, a few of the Jounins and Chuunins stepped aside to allow Anko had a look, due to the whole Akatsuki incident going around, Anko was not surprise on seeing the other two examiners already there: Morino Ibiki and Gekkou Hayate.

There was already a conversation going on, Anko managed to hear one of the Chuunin reporting to Ibiki: "…they seem to be the Hidden Grass shinobi, who entered in this exam, but as you can see, they have no faces. They are blank, as if they were melted off."

Hayate coughed once or twice, while Ibiki turned to look at Anko, waiting for any opinion, but upon seeing the expression on her face, Ibiki knew that something was up to no good.

"Anko?" Ibiki asked anyway.

"There's no mistaking it, this jutsu is his...," Anko half-cursed as she grinded her teeth together, imagine all sorts of possibilities, among those, the thought of her teacher joining with Akatsuki came up, and it saddened her.

"Orochimaru, just as the Hokage warned," Ibiki said. "He's here, as our mysterious informer told us."

"Shall we cancel the exam?" Hayate suggested, his eyes giving off an off-coloured appearance.

"You," Ibiki commanded, pointing at one random Chuunin. "Go and report this to the Hokage, the three of us will enter the practice ground."

"Here are the pictures submitted by the Hidden Grass for these three Genins," a Chuunin handed the photos to Ibiki, as he memorised their appearance before handing them over to Hayate.

Taking the photos in hand, Hayate asked Anko instead, "Will you be all right?"

Snatching the photos from his hands, Anko looked them through, before saying to her comrades, "I'm fine, let's go!"

**x**

Deep within the forest, past the battle between a giant insect and Neji's team, and further in, passing the battle between Team 10 and Gaara's team, was Sasuke. He alone stood on the top of a tree, looking around, scouting ahead. Hours passed and they had yet to find any opponents.

Jumping down, leaping from tree branch to tree branch, Sasuke landed at the bottom, meeting up with Naruto and Sakura.

"It's too quiet, something is not right," Sasuke commented, the very reason he decided to scout around, looking for signs of enemies.

"Why? Isn't that good?" Naruto asked curiously.

"Stupid! We won't find any scrolls if we can't find any team!" Sakura said as she knocked her fist gently on Naruto's head.

_"This quietness is unsettling, as if something is causing it… There are no birds, no wild animals… Is something near?"_

"Come, Sasuke-kun," Sakura motioned him forward with her waving hand, "We can find more Genins if we head towards the centre of the forest."

"Sakura-chan's the smartest!" Naruto proclaimed waving his hands about. "You on the other hand," Naruto said, pointing one finger at Sasuke. "You made the mistake of pretending to be Sasuke!"

Two kunai instantly flew past Naruto and struck Sasuke in the chest, looking in shock, Sasuke watched Sakura finished off with another two kunai in each hand.

Exploding into a large puff of smoke, Naruto looked worryingly at Sakura, "Good thing that you were right, Sakura-chan, but how did you tell that he was a fake?"

Pointing one finger to her right eye, Sakura smiled saying, "I can tell, Naruto-kun, come we better hurry up and find him, Sasuke-kun is alone."

The two of them treaded cautiously through the forest ground, passing by where they initially split up, passing by where they initially planned to meet up again, and finally to where Sasuke was last seen. Sakura knew that something was different about herself, not just the fact that there was a demon within her, but rather that her pair of eyes could see things beyond illusions, it was this ability that allowed her to tell the fake Sasuke from just now, and now, she was hoping that she might be find out where Sasuke was.

The creaking of the wood above them announced the arrival of someone, alarmed but not caught off-guard, the both of them tilted their heads up, seeing someone standing high above them, with the sun shining brightly behind his back.

_"Sasuke…?"_

**_"No."_**

"You have gone far enough, Leaf!" the stranger shouted. Taking one step aside, he revealed another figure standing behind him, his second teammate.

"Sakura-chan, do you see him?" Naruto asked in a whisper from behind Sakura.

"Who?" Sakura asked without turning her head back.

"The third person, each team has three members, and there are only two here…"

The second stranger flipped backwards, landing in front of them in a kneeling position, while the first stranger ran and jumped, landing behind Naruto. Now that they were out from the cover of the sun, the two of them instantly recognised the other two newcomers. Now surrounded by both sides, the two of them realised that they would have to fight their way out of this.

"Tsuchi Kin," the second of the two introduced, pretty with black hair combed to the back, she stood with both hands on her hips, standing one step at a time towards Sakura, unafraid of anything. "My name is Tsuchi Kin."

"Abumi Aoi," the one in front of Naruto calmly announced her name, unlike Tsuchi, she remained stationary and in remained in her battle stance. Her light blonde hair was left untied to the back as well, wearing the same patterned attire as her teammates.

"Great, we are missing the monster of the three," Naruto mumbled, without knowing where she was, it would become harder for the two of them.

With Naruto and Sakura standing in between the two of them, Kin gave Aoi a simple nod to give the go-ahead of their plan. They had honestly no idea where their third member, Kyoko, was, she always had this habit of doing a disappearing act occasionally. However, even without Kyoko's presence, Kin was confident that the she could handle her mission alone, which was to allow Aoi to establish a direct contact with Naruto, close enough to do her stuff. Understanding what needed to be done, she would have to risk her life with the Sakura, and to her understanding, the seal placed on Sakura was beginning to weaken, allowing the demon to surface anytime.

Trained by Orochimaru herself, Kin understood enough that she would not want to fail him to taste his wrath. To defeat Sakura, she must do it before her demon was to be fully awaken, that much she knew from the information she gathered from the mission briefing.

Her previously cool expression broke in reality on how powerful her opponent might actually be, even if trained by Orochimaru himself, Kin wondered if…

_"No! This will finish in half an hour- No! Ten minutes! I will finish this in ten!"_

Clutching her fists hard, she shook them hard, allowing the tiny bells lined up on her arms to vibrate. A single row of bells were spread from her wrist to the tip of her elbow, though appearing normal on the outside, each and single one of the bells on her arms, legs and a final pair on each ear were carefully crafted, and enchanted with jutsu meant to augment her attacks.

Closing both fists tightly, Kin prepared her jutsu to attack Sakura with her sound-induced hypnotic attacks. Suddenly, Sakura moved in a zigzag motion, crossing her line of sights several times before settling right before her. Aiming to kick upwards at Kin's chin, Kin cursed while grabbing hold of Sakura's attacking right foot. As Sakura sent her other foot, trying another attempt to kick at Kin's face, Kin dodged and pulled Sakura's right foot, slamming her to the ground.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto called out, though turning his head just for a short while, to look at how Sakura was doing, Aoi managed to slip into his defence within this short instant.

"Face me, Naruto!" Aoi said while grabbing onto his shoulders, as Aoi started to move her face inwards, her mouth slightly left ajar.

Startled, Naruto decided that there was no time to worry about Sakura, using both hands to push Aoi's grip apart, Naruto squatted down, and swept his foot against Aoi. Jumping upwards, Aoi dodged his sweeping kick, and sent out kunai towards him, aiming for his hands.

Blocking each and one of the kunai thrown to him with his own kunai, he flipped the kunai around, holding the weapon by its blade, and tried to throw it at Aoi. Before he could do that, Kin suddenly came flying in from above him, knocking right onto Aoi, pushing her off the air. As the two crashed against the earth, Naruto glanced back, surprised that Sakura took care of Kin so quickly.

Cursing once more, realising that she had underestimated the ability of Sakura again, Kin punched the empty air in front of her. Puzzled due to not being familiar with Kin's technique, neither Naruto nor Sakura tried to dodge it, but Aoi was seen jumping to one side, as if caution of something. Suddenly, a heavy pressure brushed by Naruto's right arm, tearing his jacket's right sleeve. Staring at the damage, Naruto realised that Sakura was just behind him a little off to the right, turning around just in turn to see Sakura getting hit right in the chest by the full blast.

Aoi reappeared by the left side of Naruto, pulling his left arm to the ground, grabbing his head, and pulling his face towards her, once again trying to land a kiss. When Naruto resisted, and pulled away, Aoi frowned and started spinning him to throw him up into the air without any time for him to react.

"Ahhhhhhh!"

Sakura staggered backwards, one hand covering her mouth, feeling blood rushing up.

_"Not good!"_

Kin leapt into action, trying again with her previous technique using the bells on her right leg. Sakura failed to dodge it, and felt the wind blew by her face, but she managed to catch Kin's feet. She removed her right hand from her mouth which was now covered with blood, she used the blood and smeared it across Kin's eyes.

Now feeling the irritation of blood getting into her eyes, Kin fell backwards while Sakura suddenly felt the delayed effect of Kin's kick. As if something exploded right in her face, Sakura was blown backwards, crashing against a tree.

Still wiping off Sakura's blood from her eyes and face, Kin did not noticed as Naruto grabbed Aoi and pushed her against her own teammate. As the two of them collided once more, with Kin's disorientated and Aoi having her wind knocked out of her lung, Naruto grabbed Sakura and pulled her out of the scene.

Looking back at whether anyone was following them, Naruto continued to run even when he saw none of the two, or even the monster called 'Kyoko'. After feeling that he had ran far enough, Naruto dropped Sakura and slumped down beside her.

"Sakura-chan, are you all right?" Naruto asked while he pulled out the torn right sleeves from his jacket, which was tangling by a thread.

Sakura sat up, both hands on the ground, feeling very dizzy. Giving a weak nod, Sakura was surprised how easily she recovered from two direct hits, before any thoughts could get into her attention, Sakura suddenly violently puked her guts out. Not minding Sakura puking out her lunch, Naruto examined their bodies for any external injuries and found none. From what he judged, it seemed that Aoi might be the physical weakest among the three of them, though he could not deduce a reason why Aoi was constantly trying to get close to him, and it was the intimacy kind of distance she seemed to be trying for. Shaking the thoughts of that Aoi wanting to kiss him, Naruto suddenly recalled a strange marking on Aoi's tongue he saw in their fight, was that a jutsu seal?

"Sakura-chan, are you all right?" Naruto asked again, while Sakura raised an unsteady left hand, motioning him to wait.

The two of them rested there for the next few minutes, Naruto gathering this thoughts, trying to get his bearing, knowing the need to go back to find Sasuke once more. Once Sakura's sickness was over, the two of them set off again.

**x**

_"A genjutsu trap? I have been through here before."_

"Not good," Sasuke commented. "I'm surrounded already?"

Activating his Sharingan eyes, Sasuke confirmed for himself that he was surrounded, not by mere shinobi, but rather snakes. Huge snakes lurking around the corners, and tiny snakes just within his reach, but hidden away from sight, any slight movement might trigger an attack.

"Sasuke," a voice called out within his mind, as if sound penetrated his skull, directly communicating with him, giving him a splitting headache. "Look out! Behind you!"

Looking up, he could have sworn that for a second, he saw a palely white armoured figure in green overflowing cloak. Heeding the stranger's warning, Sasuke spun around quickly and found a head with a snake-like extended neck swirled into the scene, spiralling itself onto a branch near him. Jumping backwards, Sasuke watched as the rest of the body caught up to the head, and eventually the neck shortened until the two objects joined up to form a proportional figure.

_"A Grass-nin? Is their plan to catch us off one by one? I must look out for his teammates! Is that green-clad shinobi their ally?!"_

Unexpectedly, the Grass-nin raised one hand to his face, and started to peel it off. Sasuke had no time to feel disgusted, as he noticed another paler face underneath the mask. Removing the Grass-nin forehead protector and the straw hat altogether, the new enemy introduced himself, "Sasuke-kun, I love to play games with you, but I rather cut to the chase."

Before he could react, suddenly, the air stirred as a single kunai came flying in, piercing through Sasuke's forehead protector, stabbing right into his skull.

Raising one hand to his head, he confirmed for himself that it was a genjutsu, yet Sasuke could not shake off the fear. _"Fear! This is no genjutsu! It's fear! The killing intent in his eyes is causing me to see an image of death! Who is this guy?! He's not here for the scroll!"_

Spinning a kunai out from his pouch, Sasuke threw it towards the Grass-nin, as he rolled for covers. The 'Grass-nin' instantly caught it with one hand, playing it with his fingers before he threw it back at Sasuke. As Sasuke felt the disturbance in the air, he turned, and saw the kunai coming towards him, image of dying by a single kunai in his forehead came into his mind. Shaking it away, he dodged to one side.

As his face ducked to one side, the sudden hissing of a snake forced him to turn face-to-face with the serpent. Even before he could react, the snake sunk down its fangs onto his right arm, as it started to twirl around it. With his left arm still free, he drew upon two kunai at once, and slew the beast by cutting its head off. Even though the snake released its hold after its death, Sasuke could already feel the numbing effect of its poison. Clutching hold onto his right arm, he struggled to move away from the scene.

"Where are you going, Sasuke-kun?" the echoes of the actual voice sounded everywhere around him. "Hehehe…"

"Who are you?! What do you want?!" Sasuke yelled, knowing that his location was already known to the Grass-nin.

"I am… Orochimaru," the Akatsuki member said, sliding down the side of a tree trunk, he landed right behind Sasuke, and grabbing hold onto Sasuke's shoulders with both his hands, he sank his teeth down onto Sasuke's neck.

Resisting him, Sasuke tried to push Orochimaru away, but he found his strength sapping away by the second, until finally when Orochimaru let go of him, Sasuke fell to his knees wobbly.

"Sasuke!"

Hissing his irritation, Orochimaru sluggishly tilted his head to observe the newcomer.

"Let him go!" Sakura yelled this time, arriving just behind Naruto.

The four of them were high up among the treetop canopies, within the lush greeneries belonging to ancient overgrown trees. Both Sakura and Naruto were on one tree, while Orochimaru and the dazed Sasuke on another.

Orochimaru let out a sigh before licking up Sasuke's blood on his lips with his tongue, recalling his body and limbs back into proportional shape, Orochimaru stood by Sasuke.

"Sasuke!" Naruto shouted once more, as he prepared to leap off from his location to theirs.

Giving a gently push to one side of Sasuke's shoulders, Orochimaru pushed Sasuke off the branch they were on. "Oops," Orochimaru said. "I guess you better catch him, Naruto-kun. I hate to run, but the two of you aren't my type, I will let the others have their fun."

However, to his surprise, instead of catching the falling Sasuke, Naruto continued to jump towards Orochimaru. "Sakura, catch him!" Naruto shouted, choosing to let Sakura to save their teammate.

Nodding regardless the fact that no one watching, Sakura jumped down, bouncing off here and there until, she crashed right into Sasuke, pushing off into a nearby branch. Meanwhile, Naruto released a fire jutsu immediately it was completed.

Hissing a sigh of annoyance, Orochimaru countered Naruto's fireball by spitting out greenish acid from his mouth, the heavier-density acid propelled the flame backwards, knocking it back towards Naruto. Braving the heat, Naruto dodged his own fireball along with the pool and various splashes from the acid.

Failing to notice his opponent's movement, Orochimaru sneaked up from behind, opening wide his mouth in the same posture as he did before biting on Sasuke's neck. With his fangs exposed, poisonous substance dripped down, burning the skin of Naruto's neck. One hand clutching the burned skin, the hand formed a fist, and Naruto threw that fist upwards and back, aiming for Orochimaru's face. Instead of dodging it, Orochimaru widened his mouth, and swallowed his fist, sinking in his fangs into the knuckle of Naruto's right fist.

As Naruto yelled in pain, Orochimaru extended his neck and spun his head around like a slingshot, and finally releasing Naruto after several turns, letting his flew through the sky and hitting against a tree.

"Orochimaru!"

Surprised, Orochimaru turned to face the voice, only just in time to see his ex-student, Mitarashi Anko, coming in from behind.

"Mitarashi-sensei!" Sakura shouted.

"Sakura-chan, get the two of them out of here!" Anko shouted.

Nodding once, she tried to spot where Naruto fell. "Naruto!" Sakura shouted, with Sasuke still in her hands, she could not reach Naruto fast enough. When she did, she saw Naruto curled up in pain, keeping his right fist cradled tightly between his abdomen and his thighs. Letting Sasuke rested against the tree branch they were on, she quickly approached Naruto, noticing the pained expression on Naruto's face.

"Naruto! Are you all right?!" Sakura called out, placing her hands on Naruto's shoulders, trying to see the wound he was hiding. When she finally pulled out the injured right hand, she saw exposed flesh with greenish burn marks. 'I'm all right' was what Naruto seemed to be trying to say, but with his feverish look, Sakura knew that he was poisoned. Sakura immediately kneeled down beside the boy, sucking out the poison with her mouth, and spitting it out greenish substance. After a few times, with the feeling of her lips burning up from the poison, Sakura was certain that she did what she could already, and took out a roll of bandage from a pouch.

Turning around, Sakura saw Anko and Orochimaru still fighting, though it was apparent to her who was winning.

"Get out of here, Sakura-chan! I will hold him off!"

Nodding, Sakura carried both boys and escaped.

"Tsk, they left, that doesn't matter, since what I wanted has already been accomplished, Anko-chan."

"What?! What is it that you want with them for?!" Seeing Orochimaru smirking devilishly, something suddenly dawned upon Anko. "It can't be! You gave Sasuke a Curse Seal!" Reminded of the existence of the Curse Seal on her own neck, Anko suddenly felt the seal warming up her skin, as if it was about to erupt, releasing her hidden powers. Raising one hand, she cupped the area where the seal was.

"Jealous, are we? Are you still upset that I left you alone back then? You wanted me to take you along, didn't you? To be with me forever…"

Growling, Anko threw a kunai at her ex-instructor. Without dodging it, the kunai went straight for his heart, piercing his seemingly frail body. Almost letting out a gasp of concern, Anko grimed as Orochimaru disappeared into a puff of smoke, now standing directly behind her.

Without spinning around, Anko aimed an elbow for Orochimaru's guts. Catching it with his hand, he leaned forward and touched Anko's Curse Seal with his lips.

"Do not resist the seal, Anko, there is still chance for us to reunite. Heed my warning, Anko, do not interfere for the rest of the exam."

Even though knowing it very well that the Orochimaru who kissed her neck was a shadow clone, Anko released her anger on it anyway, spinning around, she punched and kicked the figure with fury until it exploded as well into smoke that would disperse, leaving the Jounin alone once more.

"Are you all right?" a voice called out, walking in, with one hand over his mouth coughing.

Anko was surprised, wondering how long Hayate had been there. Did he see them talking? _"Did he see Orochimaru?!"_

"I'm all right, come, let's go."

**x**

The night approached, with the three of them hiding within a hollow trunk of an ancient fallen tree, Sasuke took on a fever as well shortly after Sakura brought the two boys in to hide, and so far, they had yet to encounter any other teams. With Sasuke on her right and Naruto on her left, she felt both their foreheads with the back of her palms, neither one of them had their fevers showing any sign of cooling down. Not to mention, there was still this strange mark on the side of Sasuke's neck that worried her.

"What should I do…?" Sakura asked to no one in particular. "Three days passed, no scroll in sight, Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun down, and this 'Orochimaru' that Mitarashi-sensei called him who attacked Sasuke-kun."

Almost expecting a mocking reply from her other self, Sakura waited, realising that _she's_ probably asleep at the moment, Sakura changed the wet towels on the foreheads of the two boys. Suddenly, someone landed right on top of them, as the inside of the fallen tree shook violently, someone started to walk on top of them, with each footstep bringing on creek on the old wood surrounding them.

Gasping in shock, Sakura pulled out a kunai in each hand, eyeing the opening in front of her. As the footsteps above her walked closer to the opening, Sakura tightened her grip on her weapons, grinding her teeth together.

**"!"**

Sakura could feel the forced awakening of Inner Sakura, who was trying to surface violently. The scream soon became unbearable to her, dropping both kunai, Sakura fell onto her knees, holding onto the sides of her aching head.

"Arghhh! Get out of my heeaad!"

Now totally forgotten about the coming intruder, Sakura fell unconscious. With the main barrier falling apart, Inner Sakura surfaced easily, her eyes and hair brightened to almost a glow, her face parted with a sinister smile, welcoming the return of her ancient rival.

**x**

Sasuke woke up shortly, as the rays of the sunlight fell onto his face, trying to blink away the light, Sasuke eventually bolted upright. Looking around him, he saw kunai everywhere, some fallen trees and some holes in the ground lying on the ground. Sasuke realised that they were in a huge hollow trunk of some sort, but it looked like as if there was a fight going on here previously, as most of the trunk was blown apart from something, revealing them to the forest. Despite the damage around them, the area where they were resting was totally untouched.

Walking passed broken pieces of wood, several kunai and a few pieces of torn green cloth materials, Sasuke found Naruto, undisturbed with one hand bandaged up with some kind of foul smelling herb. Walking further down, he noticed Sakura lying limply against what was left of a tree, her clothes had cuts over all the places, but she appeared otherwise unharmed, merely sleeping from exhaustion.

Running to her side, Sasuke picked up Sakura, trying to wake up her up while examining her for any fatal wounds, and saw nothing. "Sakura! Wake up!"

Rousing from her sleep, Sakura immediately yelped in pain, clutching arching muscles. Looking up at Sasuke, the two of them asked the same question at the same time.

"What happened?!"  
"What happened…?"

"Huh?! What do you mean you don't know? It's obviously that you were fighting someone here…"

_"How can I tell him that my other self woke up? Gods know what she did to me… Ouch! This is the demon knocked me out totally when surfacing."_ Sakura waited for a while for any reply, and finally concluded that Inner Sakura was asleep again.

"Umm, I don't quite remember, Sasuke-kun..."

"Probably a concussion… Can you walk, Sakura?"

Nodding, Sasuke let her down on her feet. Sakura studied the environment around them, not only was the inside of the tree now exposed to the outside, there were various weaponry lying about. Amazingly, the area around Naruto was left mostly intact, in fact, it almost looked like someone re-bandaged the bite wound on his right hand, and put a green blanket on him, though it looked like a torn piece of fabric from something else.

_"Did she do this all by herself? And where did they find a blanket for Naruto-kun?"_

"What happened to Naruto?" Sasuke asked.

"He fought with that guy who attacked you and…," Sakura said as she walked over to Naruto's side, feeling his forehead, noticing that his fever was gone already.

_"That guy'? Orochimaru did this to Naruto?"_

"How's he, Sakura?" Sasuke asked.

"Well, his fever is gone, but he isn't waking up…"

Using the tip of his foot, Sasuke poked the side of Naruto. "Hey, sleepyhead, wake up."

"Sasuke-kun…!" Sakura protested.

"Hmmm, please let me sleep a little bit more…," Naruto mumbled in his sleep, turning away from Sasuke.

Angry that all this while, Naruto was just sleeping, Sakura boiled up inside, and grabbed the nearest hard object that her hand could find, and bashed it hard on Naruto's head. Waking up instantly, Naruto shielded his head with his hands against Sakura's attack. "Hey, guys! Stop it, what's with both of you?!" Finally, Naruto caught the object and pulled it away from Sakura's hand.

"Naruto!" Sasuke shouted all of the sudden.

As the both of them looked up at Sasuke's surprised expression, Sasuke pointed one finger at the object in Naruto's hand. It was an Earth scroll, the opposite of what they had, a Heaven scroll.

"Argh!" Naruto shouted, treating it as an alien object, dropping it. As the scroll rolled over to Sasuke's feet, Sasuke picked it up and examined it.

Looking questionably at Sakura, he asked her, "Sakura, did you get this off Orochimaru?"

"Orochimaru? That was the person who attacked you and Naruto-kun, am I right?"

Nodding once, he waited for Sakura's reply. Looking as if thinking hard, Sakura's expression told him that she could not recall anything at all.

As Sakura tried to remember how the scroll got into their hands, she suddenly remembered the period of time when she was unconscious. _"Did she take it?"_

"It doesn't matter, guys! What's matter is that we got both scrolls now!"

Checking his pocket, Sasuke confirmed that their Heaven scroll was still with him, feeling relieved, he could not help nodding once in agreement.

"How's your hand, Naruto-kun?" Sakura asked as she picked up his hand in hers, unravelling the bandage to reveal a healed hand. _"There are still scars, but the wounds appear to be a lot better now! Did the herbs heal all that?"_

"Look's great to me, Sakura-chan."

Suddenly remembering the bite Orochimaru gave him, Sasuke felt with one hand over the area where he was bitten. Feeling nothing, he decided that it was probably gone like Naruto's wound. Seeing Sasuke touching the base of his neck, Sakura looked up worryingly, but gave a sigh of relief when Sasuke shook his head and smiled at her.

"I'm okay, Sakura."


	36. Orochimaru

Previously: Teams from around the continent fought over scrolls in the Forest of Death, while Orochimaru revealed his intentions.

**Interlude: Orochimaru  
**Updated on: 6 October, 2010

* * *

_Thirty-two years ago, at an undisclosed location…_

It was the last day of their first war, veterans had told them that it would be over before they knew it, yet it took more than five months. It was the Great Shinobi War, never had the five great shinobi villages waged war against one another so publicly, usually shinobi had only mobilised on request of the country's feudal lord, yet this war came as much to the surprise of the lords of all lands, it were the Kages who initiated the war.

At first, negotiation were held by various feudal lords in attempting to stop the fighting, but refusing to heed all warnings, the five great villages fought a battle that not even the imperial samurai army could stop. Unable to cease their attack on one another, the five lords of the five countries eventually gave up, choosing to keep watch of the battle instead. As the battles of the Great Shinobi War only usually occurred within remote areas like forests and bare plains, seldom within populated cities or towns, the feudal lords were contented with making sure no battles would arrive within civilisation.

Nevertheless, at the end of the fifth month, casualties in all five Hidden Villages ranked to thousands men. Many of the survivors of this war became heroes, many battles became legendary, among three of the greatest warriors came to be called the Legendary Three, the three Sennins, or the Sannin.

Facing the setting sun, watching over the bleak skies hanging over the ruined and scoured lands, not even the cold winter snow could mask the stenches of the decaying corpses filling the streets just as weakened buildings crumbled before his eyes. The young shinobi was in his standard battle costume, decorative steel snakes twined around his slender yet muscular firm body and arms, with layers of protective steel covering over soft violet silk underclothes. Unconsciously drawing his katana halfway out from its scabbard, Orochimaru traced one finger down the edge of the blade, knowing that the darkened dried blood still stained his otherwise flawless katana.

He did not noticed the quiet footsteps approaching from behind, and reacted far too late as a lean hand reached for his sword-hand, pushing the blade back into its scabbard.

"What are you thinking, Orochimaru?" The question came forth just as another set of footsteps followed closely behind, this time sounding more rugged and heavy. They were no others than Tsunade in her soft leather armour and Jiraiya in his bear-furred coat; his war-companions, friends who fought with him in this madness called the Great Shinobi War.

"'Will the fighting truly end just like that?'" Jiraiya answered her question for him, speaking his very thought word-for-word. It surprised no one, despite their often public argument over _anything_, the two young men often think alike, and in reality, could easily read each other inside-out like an open book.

"With the signing of the treaty, the war ends today," Orochimaru said, though that did not sound like he was convinced himself, both Jiraiya and Tsunade knew Orochimaru was thinking otherwise.

"We must put our trust in Hokage-sama's decision," Tsunade said, lifting her hand, and tracing it up Orochimaru's steel-covered arm. Behind her, Tsunade noticed Jiraiya giving her a grave nod of agreement, though she suspected he was thinking the same thing as Orochimaru.

"You do realise that all of our sacrifices and struggles in this five-month war amount to nothing. The war ends today with the signing of the treaty, but yet even after so long, even we as the trusted aides to Hokage know nothing about the war. We know of not the reason why we fought, why lives were lost, we know nothing about what were going on within the minds of the five Kages. If the war could have ended just easily like this, why didn't it end earlier?"

Though Orochimaru said it easily, with barely any changes in tone than his usual speaking manner, both Tsuande and Jiraiya could detect the emotions behind the words. They shared the same thoughts as Orochimaru, one might expect the Sannin like themselves to know the secrets of the war that raged over the lands, yet they knew nothing.

"Orochimaru…," Tsunade mumbled, retracting her hand, she looked back at Jiraiya, and saw that Jiraiya for once had no argument against what Orochimaru just said. "Jiraiya!" Tsunade hissed out angrily, expecting him to intervene, telling off Orochimaru for thinking that way and then laughing it off as usual. Instead, Jiraiya said nothing, his lips and brows curved into a frown.

"How can we feel anything about a war that served no purpose?" Orochimaru continued. Tsunade started to back out step-by-step, fearing that Orochimaru might just say something she knew was the truth. Turning around, Orochimaru grabbed hold onto Tsunade's wrist, pulling her closer, preventing her from escaping. "For five long months, we don't even know what we are fighting for! So many lives lost for an unknown cause that only the five Kages understand! Nawaki, Dan and countless others!" **(#1)**

Tsunade froze in her efforts to escape, tears gushing out from her eyes, she collapsed onto her knees.

"Orochimaru! Enough!" Jiraiya barked, as he took swift strides to reach Orochimaru before punching him on the face, forcing him to loosen his grip on Tsunade. "What's done is done," Jiraiya said irritably, only sparing a quick glance towards the shivering Tsunade, part of him wanted to comfort her, part of him knew better otherwise. "We just have to trust Hokage-sama on this, he knows best."

"I have lost all faith in him, Jiraiya," Orochimaru murmured sadly, which surprised Jiraiya. However, before Jiraiya could say anything, Orochimaru took a few steps back before turning into a run. Without saying another word, he drew his katana and slashed furiously at any nearby vegetation before departing into the comfort of the shadows. The snow fell with his footsteps, masking his path into darkness

Inside Jiraiya's heart, he wanted to chase after him, but the sudden pressure put by Tsunade leaning her tiny frame on him told him that he had more important matter to attend to at the moment. Giving a one last glimpse into the shadows, Jiraiya retreated back into the building with Tsunade in his arms.

**x**

_Ten years later since the end of the war…_

The streets were strangely deserted for a comfortable spring morning, Tsunade stood in one end of the alleyway, while Orochimaru stood in the other end, denying her the passage through.

"It won't last long, not like the war before," Orochimaru said. "Trust Sandaime, he will lead us through."

Her eyes stared off blankly into the space behind him, coolly replying, "Strange, not something I would expect coming from you, Orochimaru."

Tsunade had never forgot the war which started ten years ago, what she lost then, it had since been uneasy even among her best friends, Orochimaru and Jiraiya, they could do nothing as they slipped away from them.

Yesterday, rumours of a coming war was beginning to spread wildly among the villagers, as close aides to the Hokage, they knew it was true. The political situation between Fire Country and Lightning Country was getting worse by the minute, and the Fire Feudal Lord had already requested their aid in the battle against Lightning Country and Cloud-nins.

"I have already requested a scouting mission to the far west, and I'm taking my little Shizune with me, she is all I got left, I can't let her witness this," Tsunade explained as she started walking briskly, pushing against Orochimaru gently with one hand. Expecting some sort of resistance from him, she felt lost when Orochimaru swayed easily to her touch, allowing her to pass.

They said nothing, and bid no farewell. They would not meet each other again until twenty years later, they would be enemies then.

**x**

_Two years later since Tsunade left…_

Torturing prisoners had never been fun, but somehow he found satisfaction in this particular prisoner. This prisoner was neither a convict nor an enemy, yet here he was chained up before him, battened and tortured.

In the cold dreaded winter twelve years ago, a war broke loose within the secret world of the shinobi that lasted for almost half a year. Without explanation, five greatest shinobi villages fought against each other at the whines of their Kages. Though the war had ended for the others, it had not for him, within Orochimaru, the war continued on, it was a war against the lies, it was a battle for the truth.

"Speak, you were a close counsellor to Raikage during the Great Shinobi War era, you know the truth. Speak, and I will make the pain go away."

Before him chained a man who was a close aide to Raikage the Third, who along with four other Kages, initiated the war for a reason. Orochimaru believed that this day, he might be able to find out why.

The man was unnaturally calm for man whose limbs were painfully mutilated beyond recognition, a trickle of blood dibble from the corner of his mouth, and on it, was a wicked smile, not dying man supposed to be having.

"SPEAK!" Orochimaru screamed. "What was about the carnage we experienced about?! What was the reason we lost so many of our friends?! Who is behind this?!"

"One may think a legendary Sennin like yourself will know what happened eleven years ago. Perhaps that the Hokage could not even trust the three of you? I wonder what lies he told you… to keep you from the truth."

Orochimaru raised one brow, surprised. It was the first time the Cloud-nin had spoken so much. Seeing the man would not be talking again, Orochimaru kneeled down once more, taking hold another finger of his victim, he transfused another tiny snake into the bloodstream. The tiny snake wiggled its way through underneath the fingernail, making it way to the finger, then the palm, the wrist, and went on worming itself like all dozens all snakes did before him. Each time a snake moved, the Cloud-nin grinded his teeth harder while fixing his eyes coldly on Orochimaru, bearing the pain to himself.

"Be careful, we don't want to lose him," another voice came from behind Orochimaru, hidden within the shadows, watching the event unfolding before him.

Orochimaru did not acknowledge his presence, only leaning forward to whisper something into the man's ear, "Excuse me for a second, I need to bring your daughter out here."

The Cloud-nin pretended to be calm and as heartless as position, slowly but surely, for once in the two-day struggle between insanity and keeping his honour as a shinobi. "The life of my daughter is a small price to pay if I can keep the secret safe," he mouthed, accidentally coughing out blood, as Orochimaru opened the door.

"I can understand how the Third Hokage felt, if you had know that the reason of the war, and the mean to stop it, was hidden right within your village, surely, not even his Sennins could be trusted." Orochimaru turned around immediately, waiting for the dying man to continue his last words, just as the second Leaf-non who was with Orochimaru shifted his position anxiously to creep closer to the prisoner.

As Orochimaru came closer to hear what he had to say, suddenly, the bloody hand belonging to the tortured man reached out to grab onto Orochimaru's collar, pulling him closer. Orochimaru posed no resistance as he allowed himself to be positioned right next to the Cloud-nin's mouth.

Amused with the fact that he ended up entrusting him with this secret, the nameless Cloud-nin laughed. Before either Leaf-nins could react, the Cloud-nin whispered his secret, "Long ago, five shinobi of unimaginable power sealed a demon into a single Tomb. Fearing that their foolish descendants might unleash it in exchange for power, they created four identical fake Tombs…"

_"A demon? A single tomb? All my researches only told us that there were five Tombs…,"_ Orochimaru frowned, this was the first time, the two Leaf-nins had heard a variation of the story. In all previous studies, they had only discovered five Forbidden Tombs, but no clues who or what were in the five Tombs. They assumed to be located the Tombs to be within the five major villages: Leaf, Mist, Stone, Sand and Cloud.

"To hide the location of the true Tomb, they set up five villages to protect it, without telling anyone else which of the five Tomb was real, the five villages went on protecting it in secret, no one but the Kages know of its existence, and not even the Kages themselves which was real…

"Ever since the creation of our villages… the power between the Kages were held in check by the fact that none of them knew which was the real Tomb. However… twelve years ago, somehow, the true location of the real Tomb was revealed to all five Kages…"

"What did you say?" the hidden watcher from behind Orochimaru asked, no doubt believing what he had just heard, but still he found it unbelievable. Ignoring him once again, Orochimaru looked into his prisoner's eyes, and knew that somehow he was telling the truth.

"The war twelve years ago… was a war between those who want this power, and those who fear it… After realising how foolish… they were… they signed a peace treaty… that they would never… disclose it… The truth will die with… the current generation Kages… It will… be just like how the first-generation Kage did… they choose to forget… Pathetic fools…"

"So 'honourable', so which is the real Tomb…," Orochimaru questioned one more time, this time feeling that at last the secret was about to be revealed.

Spotting a wicked smile on his face, the poor tormented soul whispered his final secret, "And what would you do if you know?" The prisoner then glimpsed into the depth of Orochimaru's eyes, as if testing him of his resolution, should he wavered or show any sign of hesitation, he would rather die, even if it was to cost his daughter her life.

Orochimaru smiled without hesitation. "I will destroy it."

Satisfied with the answer, the Cloud-nin revealed his final secret, "It's in Konohagakure, the land of Fire and Leaf is the final resting place of the dark god…"

As the silent watcher broke his silence by muttering a curse of surprise, Orochimaru witness the light in the prisoner's eyes dimmed and faded away.

_"Dead."_

Orochimaru picked himself and announced to the older man behind him that our 'friend' had passed away. They changed an awkward silence between them, though it was not to honour the recent dead, but to reorganise their thoughts.

"His daughter?" the older man asked, more of an afterthought.

"She has nowhere to return to, we had killed all her family members, Massaki," Orochimaru stated as he walked towards the exit of the room. "In exchange for the information, I guess it's only natural that I repay the guest."

Stepping out from the shadows, Uchiha Massaki put one hand under his breaded chin, saying, "If what he said were true, that the Tomb is indeed within our village, if so… where? What are you intending to do?"

Saying nothing, Orochimaru stepped out from the room, briefly washing his hands at a basin filled with water. In one corner of the room, on the bed was a little girl with dark purplish hair, sleeping peacefully, unaware of what just happened to her father.

"What will you do about her?" Massaki asked, following Orochimaru out from the torturing chamber.

"I will take her in," Orochimaru answered calmly without looking at either one of them.

Orochimaru's decision appeared to have surprised Massaki, laughing unnaturally, he was unsure to whether it was a jest.

"One day I will die, if that day is to come, she will succeed me in my quest," Orochimaru said resignedly, walking towards the single straw bed, he laid down beside the girl named Anko. He was indeed very tired, but he felt very relief into knowing another part of the puzzle was solved this day. He ignored what else Massaki had to say and fell into a deep sleep, knowing that it was only the beginning.

**x**

_Eight years later…_

Anko was twelve years old now, eight years had passed since Orochimaru murdered her family and raised Anko as his own, yet there was no bad feelings between them. Having raised Anko since she was only four, Orochimaru could have easily hid the truth from her, yet he chose to reveal everything about her past, and even allowed her to keep her family name, 'Mitarashi.' Despite what happened between Orochimaru and her father, Anko could find no reason to hate him, he was probably more of a father to her that that hazy figure of a man she had in her dreams.

He imparted to her everything he knew, and told her of every secret he learned, even of those that caused her father's death. Orochimaru had told her before, that ever since the Shinobi War, he had been seeing 'death' from a different point of view compared to most mortal men. He still feared it like everyone else, but no longer for the same reason, Orochimaru feared that one day, truth and memories would be forgotten, and thus his obsession with immortality.

The Hakkotsu series were one of his many attempts, personally crafted from high-density compressed materials, mixed from various mystical sources, the exoskeleton armour of the Hakkotsu could very well be one of the toughest in the world. Within the thick armour layering of each Hakkotsu, was a powerful seal that trapped soul onto the armour, forcing them to re-live their second life. However, the Hakkotsu dolls were not perfect: some appeared to be unintelligent upon rebirth, some went berserk immediately the very moment they realised what happened to them, some just crumbled into dust the moment they regained sentience.

Today, her master was not feeling well, he appeared to be deeply distracted over something. Thinking back, Anko could only remember of one reason why: two days ago, a strange man who identified himself as Tako visited her master. This Tako told Orochimaru something, and for the first time, there was secret between them as her master would refuse to tell her what Tako said to him. She only knew that Tako would return in one week time to hear from him once more. Did Orochimaru still could not trust her? Anko wondered why it hurt so badly realising it might be true, what would happen to her if Orochimaru abandon her one day, like how she lost her real father?

The last time Orochimaru was feeling so stressed out was a year ago, when this strange friend of his, Uchiha Massaki, committed a murdering spree, killing a few Uchiha elders. He ended up fighting Hizashi Arashi and his teammates, the famous 'Trio', the three of them defeated and blinded Massaki in battle, and forced to escape. Orochimaru had heard no word from or about him ever since.

On the morning of the fourth day, Anko awoke to the sound of Orochimaru working. Curiously, she tumbled sleepily into his lab, at where she witnessed the latest Hakkotsu model, not only was it physically different, she sensed great amount of chakra being poured from her master's body to craft this latest Hakkotsu. When Orochimaru noticed her presence, he smiled and asked her to prepare his usual breakfast. Anko was glad that he was back to normal again.

Orochimaru continued to work in his lab for the next two days, after fine-tuning Hakkotsu, he packed it neatly in a bag, and turned his attention onto another matter. Anko found it awfully strange that her master would dig up an old incomplete project of his all of the sudden, she recognised it as the 'Curse Seal'. The Curse Seal was never completed due to its complexity, and it only worried her more when he did not ask for her help, and even ignored her completely as he worked on creating his first prototype Curse Seal.

The seventh day finally came, and Anko was so worried about this Tako stranger that she could not sleep for the whole night. Exiting from her bedroom, she walked to the lab, and was curious to find it empty, both the design drafts of the Curse Seal and the bag of the empty Hakkotsu were missing as well. Fear overcame her as she ran screaming for his name, frightened that he might just leave her without telling her.

Anko bumped onto Orochimaru in the corridor, worryingly, he asked her what was wrong. She was so frightened that she could only held on tightly onto his clothes and kept on crying as Orochimaru tried to calm her down, whispering into her ear that 'it is going to be all right'.

Orochimaru then gave her a kiss on her neck, it stings for a moment, but suddenly she felt sleepy. Though her vision became blurry, she could still hear her master speaking to her perfectly, imparting his last message to his beloved student.

"Anko-chan, we both know of the existence of this one secret that threatens the world. Ever since then, we have pursuit it, seeking to uncover the truth. We know this much: that it lies _somewhere_ within Konohagakure, yet a lot of things are still out of our reach. Massaki-dono was impatient, and tried to uncover the secret by threatening the Uchiha elders, he deserved everything he received, but still, I admire his honour for not saying my name after he was captured.

"Seven days ago, three travellers approached me, they promised me that they would share whatever they discover with me, as long as I aid them in their quest. Four days ago, I realised that if nothing is to be done, if I am to let go of this one chance… The sacrifice made by my friends and your father, would be for nothing… I decided to join them. Together, the four of us decided to challenge a person who still remembers the Uchiha Secret and the location of the Tomb.

"Though the Hakkotsu is still unstable, we are going to use a Hakkotsu on her, and by binding the dead to our will, we will learn of the secret. This Curse Seal I gave you will protect you until my return, it will seal all memories regarding our little secret, and it will only be unlocked when you gained the strength to release its full potential. Until then, please wait for my return."

The surroundings went dark, as she felt a pair of strong comforting arms lifting her and resting her on the bed. In a distance, a hazy image of a man left the room, her vision clouded by tears flowed from her eyes. She was afraid that she would wake up forgetting everything about him, her master, her father.


	37. Haku, Part III

**Act 6: Reminisce  
Chapter 37: Haku (III)  
**Updated on: 10 September, 2007

* * *

The heavy doors swung wide open, pushed open by Chouji, who instantly fell flat on his stomach, behind him were his teammates: Shikamaru and Haku.

It was the fifth and final day of the second test, and the three of them barely made it through. Ever since their fight with the team from Wind Country, the three of them constantly met misfortune along the way. They had a lot of fights with people they tried to steal and people who tried to steal from them, but fortunately for them, all was okay with the help of another team.

Yakushi Kabuto, Akado Yoroi and Tsurugu Misumi strolled into the tower following after Shikamaru and Haku, who were dragging Chouji in by his hands.

"Hungry…," Chouji said while barely conscious, his eyes rolling upwards, as if on the verge of death, even though he just ate four hours ago, but then again, for an Akimichi, four hours might be a bit too much. Once inside, together with Kabuto's team, the six of them opened their scrolls together, summoning a huge bang of smoke. From the smoke, the silhouette appeared, and eventually the form of a Chuunin teacher walked out, he had a scar across his nose, but Haku was unfamiliar with who he was, though it seemed that both Shikamaru and Chouji recognised him.

After going through the lecture about teamwork, trust, and a lot of other mumbo jumbo stuff, the two teams were led off into the resting room. Entering the room, the first thing Haku noticed was the simple clock hanging on the wall, barely an hour left before they would close the gate off, shutting off the opportunity of passing for the other teams.

Tapping on her shoulder once, Shikamaru directed her attention towards one corner, where a boy of their age just emerged from behind a room, with trowel on his shoulders, his clothes appeared to be clean, but it only had one sleeve.

"Ahh! That was a nice relaxing shower, wasn't it?" Naruto said in a loud voice, grinning all the way, while wiping dry his golden head.

_"So, they made it as well… And they got the time to shower and wash the clothes?!"_

Staring at her own attire, and then at her teammates, Haku realised how awful the three of them smelled. Peeking off from the corner of her eyes, she noticed how much neater Kabuto was, wondering if there was really such a big different between the two teams.

Sasuke and Sakura followed Naruto out (naturally coming out from different rooms), while still drying her long pink hair, Sakura spotted the six of them and waved.

"Yo!" Naruto greeted with enthusiasm.

Kabuto smiled, and waved back while notching his slipping spectacles back up his nose. His two teammates went to the nearest vending machine, and popped in a few coins.

"Naruto-kun, isn't it? And Sasuke-kun and Sakura-chan, how are you three?" Kabuto asked. Yoroi briefly walked up to him and passed him a hot can of coffee before retreating back to the shadows lining the wall. "Glad that we made it in time, but now that it's so late, I doubt that there are anymore teams left."

"Hmm, good thing all of us passed, though I must say that the results come quite surprising to me," Sakura said.

"Who passed before us?" Shikamaru asked, though it was interesting to Haku that the usual heck-care-attitude Shikamaru asked the question.

"Well, when we arrived, Dog Boy was already here," Naruto frowned.

"Dog boy?" Shikamaru asked again, while eyeing Chouji rushing off somewhere to find food.

"He meant Kiba-kun and his team, Shino-kun and Hinata-chan," Sakura answered.

"That was surprising, then I take it that Neji-kun's team passed as well?" Kabuto asked, after which he sipped his coffee.

Sakura nodded. "Two other teams passed as well, one from Team Sand..."

This caught the attention of Haku and Shikamaru, and doubtlessly Chouji's as well if he was there.

"… and that team from Sound," Naruto finished it for her.

As if on cue, the three girls from the Hidden Sound entered the room, rising the tensions among them. Knowing that the room was been guarded by Jounins hiding somewhere, none of the three girls offered any trouble.

Tsuchi Kin, the leader of the three, stood in the middle, shook her right arm, letting the tingling of the bells to be heard, and was disappointed that neither Sakura nor Naruto was spooked. Abumi Aoi peeked over the shoulder of Kin, staring into the eyes of the few Genins there before retreating back to some room further in. Kinuta Kyoko said nothing but continued to watch the three of them, particularly Naruto and Sakura, eventually giving them the creep once again. As Kin got bored of taunting them and left as well, leaving Kyoko alone, who then shortly decided to follow her out as well.

Sakura sounded an 'hmph' before folding her arms together, "Hate those girls." At that instant, Kyoko thumped a heavy footstep, turning on the spot, twisting around with one ankle to face Sakura. Their eyes met for a second before Kyoko turned and returned to where she came from. Seeing Kyoko walking out of the room made Sakura realised that she was actually holding her breath, letting it out, she saw Naruto gulping down his saliva.

_"Did Naruto-kun… see that as well? The look in that girl's eyes, it's… frightening."_

**x**

The rest of the hour passed by uneasy for Haku, placed in an unfamiliar environment, among unfamiliar Genins, not to mention that not all of them were friendly to begin with. Gaara's group and Team Sound returned from wherever they were to, and with the rest of the teams, waited impatiently for the time to run out. Even though she was somewhat friendly to Naruto's group, and Hinata proved to be rather friendly, Neji's team, and the Kiba-Shino pair were constantly eyeing each other's movement, making the scene tense.

Watching the clock ticking away, Haku could hear a few sighs of relief as there were no more teams coming through the gate. As Chuunin started to lock up the gate permanently, a Jounin entered the room, and directed them to another larger room.

Entering the more spacious room, Haku could feel the atmosphere drowning her. The large stone tiles on the floor showed signs of severe wear and tear, as if Jounins of ancient past trained and fought here to gain higher knowledge and power. Tracing the old walls filled with battle scars, a giant statue of a man sat in the front, with a high-tech monitor screen making it look out-of-place resting on the wall behind the statue.

At the base of the statue, Haku recognised a few, who she identified as instructors of the teams here: Team 7's Hatake Kakashi, Team 8's Yuuhi Kurenai, Team 10's Sarutobi Asuma, and the rests were unknown to her. Standing with them were the previous examiner, Morino Ibiki, the Chuunin who greeted them when they opened the scroll together, 'Umino Iruka' she believed Shikamaru called him, a sickly-looking guy, and the Hokage himself.

The sickly-looking man walked up front, breaking the formation, attaching a mike and headset to his left ear (and coughed a few times into the mike). The way this examiner kept on coughing worried the gangs, they could not help wondering if he was fit to conduct the test in the first place, strangely, none of the Jounins seemed to think the same though.

"First off, for the second test, congratulation on passing…," Gekkou Hayate spoke quietly through the mike. "My name is Gekkou Hayate, the referee for the third and final test, and now, I will now explain the rules for the third part of the exam… There are twenty-one of you, and through lottery, we will decide the order of the match… In a pyramid tournament type of style, the winner of a preliminary match will move on to the quarterfinals, and then to the semi-finals… But only the quarterfinals and beyond will be held in the stadium, the eight preliminary matches will be fought right here, right now in this room."

"What?! Right now?!" Kiba shouted.

"Yes, in fact, we did not expect so many… survivors. So it is necessary for the preliminaries to… cut down expenses for the upcoming tournament to decide who will be Chuunins. Since we have an odd member, one of you will have to fight twice with the final member."

"This can't be! It will be unfair!" Naruto shouted this time.

"In real missions, we don't always get a fair chance at everything, this should well be a-"

"Excuse me, Gekkou-sensei, I will like to withdraw," a voice said, raising one hand high above the other heads.

"Huh?!" the crowd turned together to look at Kabuto with his hand up.

"Kabuto-san, why?" Sakura whispered.

Kabuto turned and faced Sakura, answering with a smile, "I'm tired, the previous test has taken a toll on me. I hope that you three will fight well in the next test, but I'm afraid that I will have to rest here."

"Umm, you're Yakushi Kabuto-kun? You may leave… Umm, from now on, it will be individual performance, so if anyone of you are worried about failing your teammates by retiring, you do not have to worry."

Bidding a simple farewell to them, Kabuto waved and left through the back exit. Well, watching Kabuto walking away, neither Naruto nor Sakura noticed Sasuke moving his hand up to cover his Curse Seal, for a short moment, he felt the pain coming back again. Ever since the encounter with Orochimaru, the seal had been giving him problems, and each time the pain was increasing, each time testing the limit of his endurance.

Turning back to face Hayate, Sakura noticed Sasuke's strange behaviour first.

"Sasuke-kun, are you all right?"

"I'm fine," Sasuke answered, forcing himself to remove his hand from the mark.

Peeking from the top of his shirt, Sakura saw the mark.

"Sasuke-kun, there's a seal on the back of your neck!" Sakura half-shouted in whisper.

Alarmed, Sasuke covered up his neck again, looking questionably back at Sakura. "It doesn't matter, Sakura." Pulling the collar of his shirt to cover the mark up, he wondered when did the seal appear, was it due to the bite? What would happen?

_"No! I can't risk stopping here, Kabuto was weak, I am not, I will continue on to be a Jounin!"_

"I'm all right," Sasuke reaffirmed with Sakura, worried about the complication that she might create.

Seeing the commotion between the two of them, Naruto walked up behind them, whispering a question into Sakura's ear. "What's wrong?"

Shaking his head, Sasuke pulled away from Sakura, "Nothing is wrong, Naruto."

"Blah, so be it," Naruto pouted.

"… is anyone else retiring the match…?" the examiner continued. "Fine then… Um… Now, let's begin the preliminary… This preliminary will consist of one-on-one fighting, you will basically fight as if in a real life confrontation… Since we have exactly 20 entrants, we will conduct ten matches and the winners will advance to the third test… There are basically no rules, the fight will continue until one of you dies, knocks out or admits your defeat. Umm, if you don't want to die, then quickly acknowledge your defeat… But when I decide that the winner has clearly been established, I'll jump in and stop things, to prevent needless deaths."

Suddenly, the monitor screen flickered a bit, and lit up with a soft greenish glow.

"This electric board will show the match-ups for each battle, all names are random, and now, it will announce the first two names of the first fight…"

Now ticking with an irritating sound, the beat of the sound started to tick faster and faster, until a letter came out, followed by the next five letters, forming a name.

"It will be Gaara versus…"

The board continued, choosing a random name, and finally settled on an 'H'.

"…Haku."

"Hmm, I didn't expect that it will be Gaara's turn so soon, but regardless, it should be fun," Kankurou commented.

"It's that girl after all, remember the fight between the two previously? I doubt that we got much to see, Gaara crashed her so quickly back then," Temari replied.

"Haku," Shikamaru said in a worried voice, "Stay calm, you can do it, Haku."

Nodding, Haku took a deep breath before turning her head to spy on Gaara.

_"My wounds aren't that bad,"_ Haku lied to herself.

The boy on the other hand remained calm, he had yet to move, or even acknowledge that his fight would be coming up right now. Gaara was after all the strongest, the earliest to arrive at the tower, unscratched. Though it was wrong to say that he was emotionless, right now, he was feeling disappointment that he was not going to fight Haruno Sakura.

"Everyone, there are stairs at each corner of the room, please climb it and watch the match from the second level, from now on, no one is to interrupt the match until I judge it to be over…"

Haku-chan, take care," Naruto whispered, though he doubted that she heard him. Leaving her behind, Naruto wondered how strong Gaara was.

Finally turning to face Haku, Gaara remained stationary while Haku jumped a few steps back, knowing the distance of his sand from their previous fight. She almost died back then, but saved by her teammates, and now she would be on her own.

"Fight one, Gaara versus Haku, start!"

The sound of the cock on Gaara's gourd dropping on the ground initiated the battle, with that Haku begun her first jutsu.

_"Before I made the mistake of attacking you using close-range combat, but now, I will go full force at you with range techniques! Kagami Senjou no Jutsu _**(#1)**_!"_

Placing her right hand on the ground, a seal briefly appeared on spot where she touched, glittering for a while, the shine spread throughout the whole floor area. When everyone including Gaara recovered from the sudden glare, they saw for themselves that Haku had turned the stone tiles into an icy surface, in fact, it looked so real that it looked the tiles were made of ice, and that they were floating on nothing except of their own reflections before. Gaara himself could only see an endless reflection of himself at his feet, with even cold mist rising from the giant ice cubes.

"What trick is that?" Chouji asked in surprise, rubbing his eyes from the sudden dazzling reflections of the ceiling lights.

"You don't remember, Chouji?" Shikamaru asked.

"Remember what?"

"Haku-chan used _that_ on us before, after this Kagami-Senjou-something-or-the-other during one of our practice runs. The ground isn't covered with ice, the field itself is temporary turned into ice," Shikamaru whispered.

Sasuke couldn't help wondering would follow after that, Haku was after all, the girl who killed him once, to get over the barrier of being weak, she would surely be one of the opponents he would have to defeat one day. His goal of having his revenge would not be stop by anyone!

Meanwhile, back at the ground level…

Still showing no emotion while more sand poured out of his gourd, gathering at his feet, swirling like a whirlpool. Suddenly, the sand moved rapidly through the slippery ice, slithering along the floor like a giant snake, and when it was just ten feet away from Haku, the sand changed shape. As expected by Haku, Gaara's sand was going to grab her, just like before.

Now at such distance, it would be impossible for her to miss, with her cold right hand still on the ground, on the spot where she cast her previous jutsu, Haku continued on to her next step: "Hari Ookami no Jutsu **(#2)**!"

The sand formed into a shape of a giant hand, with the wrist resting on the ground, moving at a very fast speed towards Haku. It was then that a howl could be heard, and the shape of a wolf's head surfaced from the ground, revealing its fangs. The head of the ice wolf skied on the ground, like a shark breaking the waves before revealing the rest of the body, each step that the wolf took left a trace of an icy mist behind.

Just when the giant hand made of sand and the wolf were about to collide, the sand-hand split in two, one remained at where it was, blocking the path of the wolf from reaching Gaara, while the other spin itself slightly out of the way before forming another hand, and continued its journey towards Haku.

The wolf crashed right onto the stationary sand, the lump of sand was kicked upwards by the impact, and while in midair, the wolf continued to bash its head against its target, kicking it higher and higher until it finally encased the sand in an icy explosion, turning every grain of sand into fine crystal dust.

Ignoring the bulk of sand coming for her, Haku continued to attack Gaara by sending another Hari Ookami no Jutsu at him. Now that the frozen sand grains failed to response to his call, Gaara poured out more of the sands that were still in the gourd, again using it to block the attack. Meanwhile, at the other end of the hall, Haku dodged just in time, back flipping several times away from the sand attack. However, the attack did not stop there, instead the sand fist exploded into fine needles in the direction at where she stood. Suddenly, mist rose from her feet, covering her escape. When the mist subsided, Haku had disappeared, with the needles made of sand missing their target, creating several punctured holes on the wall instead.

Reappearing behind Gaara, hands first surfaced through the frozen floor, as if emerging from the water, Haku pulled herself up, revealing the rest of her body.

"Mizu Tsume no Jutsu **(#3)**," Haku calmly said as water droplets dripped down from her palms, and eventually forming claws on her fingertips. Jumping forward, Haku landed on the gourd Gaara carried, tracing Gaara's fine veins on his neck with her claws. "Give up now, Gaara!"

Still seeing no emotion from her opponent, it unnerved Haku. Suddenly, Haku lost her footing, as she realised that the gourd she was squatting on started to suck her in. Surprised that the gourd itself was made of sand, Haku was forced to try to cut Gaara's throat, and found her claws to break immediately on contact.

_"What?! There's a thin layer of sand on his skin protecting him?! _**(#4)**_ Argh!"_

Looking down, she saw that even though the gourd had not fully wrapped itself around her, it was already trying to break her legs through pressure alone. **(#5)**

"Arrrghhh! Sensatsu Suishou no Jutsu **(#6)**!" Haku growled, casting a jutsu in spite of the pain on her legs.

As there was no direct source of water around them, it took a while for the ice dusts to form into needles, regardless of that, they did their job, shooting out needle-like projectiles at Gaara. Though the effect was almost unnoticeable, mentally cursing out at herself, Haku tried the other method to get herself free before she totally lost the feelings on her legs.

Bending backwards, trying to reach the ground with her hands, if she could just touch the frozen floor, she could turn the tide of the battle around. The sudden jolt of pain jerked her body away from the ground, with more sand slithering in, joining with the main body, the gourd was growing larger, enough to engulf the whole body. With the sand pulling her in, Haku found that the sand had already reached her upper body, leaving only her head and arms free, in this position, it would be impossible for her to touch the floor, not to mention breathing was already getting difficult for her.

With the sand creeping up onto her neck, Haku realised that Gaara was playing with her, instead of putting pressure and squeezing the life out of her, Gaara was merely absorbing her in. Of course, there was still _that_ jutsu that she could try, the one she used against Gatou back at Wave Country, but ever since then, Haku could not reduplicate the effect of the jutsu. With her last option ruled out, Haku had only one true chance of surviving left.

"I give up!" Haku shouted.

Of course, knowing that Gaara would probably not care about that, Haku placed her hope on the examiner, who promised to reduce the number of body bags. Suddenly, the pain increased, obviously trying to finish her off before anyone could save her.

"ARGHHH!"

"Gaara, release her at once," Gekkou Hayate said, still standing in his initial position, as if not putting any effort at all to save Haku, but seeing no reply from the boy, Hayate drew his katana from the sheath.

Moving at an unearthly speed, Hayate reappeared behind Gaara with his katana drawn. Mumbling the name of the technique he used, he cut Haku free with one swift cut. As Haku tumbled out of the sand prison, she fell onto Hayate's hands. It all happened so fast, that it stunned both Haku and Gaara, though what surprised Haku more was the technique Hayate used on Gaara.

The way Hayate called out his sword technique was so quiet that probably only Gaara and herself could have heard it, but Haku was sure that what he said was: "Imitation technique… Modified Hanabira Boufuu… **(#7)**"

Gaara himself was shocked, the way the Jounin cut open his gourd without hurting Haku one bit. For the first time in this battle, Gaara moved, turning his head slightly, just enough to see the sword-user.

"The winner of this match is Gaara of the Hidden Sand," Hayate announced as if nothing major happened. "Now, onto the next match!"

Medics rushed out to take Haku away as Hayate moved back to his position among the other Jounins, just in time for the monitor screen to light up again.

"Gaara-kun, please move away from the battlefield," Hayate said, returning his sword back into the sheath, the next battle will be between…"

Turning his head to read the screen behind him, he continued after a while, "Kankurou versus Aburame Shino."

**x**

Meanwhile, at the observing platforms, where the Genins gathered to watch the match, all of them were surprised with one thing or another with the fight between Gaara and Haku. And then, there were those who were impressed with Hayate's move, among those was Sakura, who instantly recognised the technique he used.

Turning her head to face Naruto, the only other person who had witnessed the true Hanabira Boufuu before, she saw Naruto running down the stairs.

"Naruto-kun, where are you going?" Sakura called out.

Turning his head, Naruto replied while pointing at the injured Haku resting on stretcher carried by two medics, "Don't worry, I'll be back soon, I will just go and check on Haku-chan!"

**x**

On his way down, Naruto bumped onto Kankurou, who he briefly apologised. But Kankurou was so deep in thought that he did not even notice Naruto bumping onto him, with his eyes still on Gaara before, who was just finally starting to move away from the battle area just as the Kagami Senjou no Jutsu was finally starting to fade away.

"Temari, that look on Gaara's eyes, he's getting excited."

"Hmm, you better get moving, it's your turn, Kankurou," Temari replied.

"My turn?" Kankurou answered in surprise, looking up, he saw his own name on the electric board. _"Who's Shino? Doesn't matter, I will win anyway."_

Leaping down from the platform, Kankurou watched as another young teenager in trench coat with sunglasses walking down the stairs from the other side.

"Second match, Kankurou of the Sand versus Shino of the Leaf, please begin when you are ready…"

"Good thing that the ice on the floor thawed, isn't it? I don't want my opponent to slip and fall, allowing me to win by default. Let's end this quick, shall we?" Kankurou said with confident, taking out huge package he carried about and set it on the floor to one side.

High up in one of the two platforms, Kiba chuckled. "That brat, he has no idea who Shino is, and is already dreaming about winning."

Meanwhile, on the same platform, Tenten asked Neji to take a look.

"Why?"

"I… got this feeling that he's different."

"Fine… Byakugan!" Neji said, forming the required hand seals to allow his eyes' special ability to be activated. "What a guy, I can understand summoning bugs, but bugs are living throughout his body. He must be a member of the bug-using clan of the Leaf, a clan whose members, at birth, give up their bodies to the insects to use as nest. The clan can freely control the insects and use them as their primary fighting technique by feeding them their chakra, they have established a contract with the bugs."

**x**

The two boys attacked each other almost immediately, Kankurou was more aggressive in the sense that he delivered most of the punches and kicks, while Shino on the other hand blocked most of the time with ease. A minute through the match, Shino suddenly looked surprised, as if realising something about his opponent.

Dashing forward, Shino went straight past Kankurou by jumping over the Sand-nin, and threw a kunai at the wrapped up package Kankurou dropped on the floor just now. Suddenly, a hand reached out from beneath all those bandages, and deflected it away with one of his own kunai in his hand.

The other Kankurou behind widened his eyes in surprise, but it soon turned into a chuckle, "So, you saw through it, how I wonder? But it doesn't matter!"

Meanwhile, the package undo the bandages from the inside, freeing him. Sitting upright, the real Kankurou sat with his legs crossed, slamming the floor with his palm, laughing. "Hahaha, you are rather good, to see through it. For the moment I thought that you will be some-"

Shino went straight for the fight, swinging his fists around, hoping to catch the sitting Kankurou off-guard, but the intrusion of the fake puppet Kankurou from behind prevented him from doing so. The sitting Kankurou sprung into action, attacking Shino went he was concentrating on the doll. Caught in between the two Kankurous, Shino continued to display his calmness.

Dodging a blow from the real Kankurou, Shino went for a sweeping kick against the doll. When the doll dodged it, Shino attacked Kankurou with an uppercut, followed by a quick kick at the doll.

As Kankurou backed up against the wall, rubbing his chin with the back of his hand, the doll unravelled its disguise, revealing its true appearance. Two more arms appeared from under the first pair, while the head grew larger, and overall, the doll expanded in size.

"Hahaha," Kankurou laughed, still not taking things not seriously. "I don't like to play fair, how's that? Two against one?"

Stretching out one opened hand to his side, Shino chuckled, "It's one on one again!"

"Huh?"

Squeezing his hand shut, the doll behind Shino suddenly exploded, its arms and legs falling off from its joints.

"What?!"

Bugs begun to pour out from the opening of the fallen doll, crawling out in masses, and gathering behind their master, startling Kankurou. Just the surprised look on Kankurou's face alone made Shino smirked.

"You are no match for me, forfeit now, or else…"

"Ha! You have not-"

"You talk too much," Shino said as he briefly went past Kankurou once more, using his elbow to deliver a blow against the back of Kankurou's neck. Yelling in pain, Kankurou reached out behind him, grabbing Shino by the sleeve, he threw him forward. Just when he was thrown over Kankurou's head, Shino reached out with one hand, and counter-throw Kankurou by grabbing onto his collar.

While Shino landed and rolled on the floor, Kankurou was thrown against the wall. Picking himself up, Shino watched as Kankurou did the same.

"It's over," Shino said as he extended his right hand out again. "You had your chance to forfeit."

Kankurou watched as Shino slowly closed his hand, immediately pain all over his body, as if countless of bugs were biting him. Clutching his hands to his ears, where it hurt the most, Kankurou soon passed out.

"Shino wins," the examiner announced as medics rushed out once more.

"Blah, I can't believe that the idiot lost," Temari spit. "He's getting something from me when it's all over!"

* * *

**- Glossary -**

**#1 :: Kagami Senjou no Jutsu** – Mirror Battlefield Technique, turning the flat surface area on the ground into ice. Useless for most shinobi, but for Haku who could use her bloodline ability to travel through ice, it was a very effective method of escaping and travelling around.  
**#2 :: Hari Ookami no Jutsu** – Glass Wolf Technique, summoning a creature from to attack from the range, essentially a multi-hit combo attack before freezing its target in ice. Glass Wolf only moves in a straight line, but in a very fast speed.  
**#3 :: Mizu Tsume no Jutsu** – Ice Claws Technique, a ninjutsu used often by Haku, it creates needle-like claws onto your fingers.  
**#4 :: Suna no Yoroi** – Armour of Sand.  
**#5 :: Sabaku Kyuu** – Desert Coffin.  
**#6 :: Sensatsu Suishou no Jutsu** – Flying Water Needles.  
**#7 :: Imitation Technique, Modified Hanabira Boufuu** – Go read chapter 21. It is the same downwards stroke attack, except modified on the spot so that Haku would not be harmed.


	38. Abumi Aoi, Part II

**Act 6: Congregation  
Chapter 38: Abumi Aoi (II)  
**Updated on: 10 September, 2007

* * *

The crowd did not expect the outcome to be so, it was not that they wanted Kankurou to win, but none of them expected Aburame Shino to win by such a big margin of differences. Medics rushed out to get Kankurou, and were relieved to find that the damage on Kankurou was not much, in fact, it was enough just to make him passed out.

Coughing a few fits, Gekkou Hayate turned his back to look at Morino Ibiki, who shook his head. Anyone observing Hayate closely would realise that he was frowning, for indeed he was, he was after all worried about Mitarashi Anko, who had been missing since their return from the forest, since her encounter with Orochimaru.

"On to the next match!" Hayate announced, turning his head once more, this time watching the screen as it started blinking a few times before settling on the next two names. "Abumi Aoi versus Uchiha Sasuke!"

"Sasuke-kun," Sakura whispered just as Sasuke was about to leave by the stairs. "Take care!" Reaching out one hand to touch Sasuke, but her hand touched nothing as Sasuke started moving away from her.

Meanwhile at the side of the Sound Team, Tsuchi Kin was shocked. "It was not the way we planned! What happened? Why did Aoi's name come up so soon?"

"My name is supposed to be rigged to go with… Why is it Sasuke… _-kun_?" Aoi said, her voice shaking.

Underneath the bandages, Kinuta Kyoko looked at Abumi Aoi and spoke, "Aoi, it is okay, complete this match, we will get more chance. Kin, I will go and investigate."

"Be back soon, now that the order is screwed up, we will never know whose name will come up next," Kin advised as Kyoko disappeared from sight, followed by Kin creating a clone of herself disguising as Kyoko. Nodding once, Aoi headed for the stairs. "Aoi, win to be on the safe side, but if you are forced into _that_ technique, forfeit, do you understand me?"

**x**

"Haha, I always wonder what it is like behind the screen," Anko laughed as she continued to pull out wires belonging to a small black box connected to the wall. Right beside to where the little black box was a loose wall panel, with an exposed circuitry directly connecting to the screen mounted right on the other side of this wall. "But who? Is there an order of matches that they wanted to fight? Or is one of theirs supposed to go against a kid of ours?" Looking down at the loose wires that she pulled out, she spoke while observing, "I hope that this will do the trick, and that the board should revert back to random drawing of names now."

Footsteps announced the entry of another person to this little accessed circuit room, immediately turning around, Anko bumped right into the newcomer. Wrapping the hands around Anko's tiny neck, the stranger started to chock the Jounin.

"Orochimaru-sama will be not pleased that you choose to betray him, Anko-_sempai_."

Anko tried to resist, but the hold on her was too strong, soon, Anko's kicks and struggle became weaker and weaker until she stopped moving.

**x**

Among the observing Jounins and team instructors, there was one who stood up among the adults, with a single golden streak among black silky hair falling in front of her face, the Jounin representative of the Hidden Sound looked stunningly beautiful. For a split second when Hayate announced the names of the contenders, the Sound-nin raised an eyebrow in surprise, knowing very well that Sasuke was not supposed to fight against her Aoi.

Peeking from the corner of one eye, she could see Orochimaru, disguising as the leader of Kabuto's team **(A/N: Orochimaru is using a physical skin, not a Henge no Jutsu, thus it is undetectable by Sakura's eyes.)**, she wondered how long he had been among the Leafs. Orochimaru remained calm, but she could understand if he started to panic, after all, it was Sasuke's life at stake.

With the existence of Uchiha Itachi, there was no need for Sasuke to be alive, but to be on the safe side, Akatsuki would prefer to keep two Sharingan users if possible. However, Jingi Kagetsu understood that Orochimaru had this particular interest in the young boy, having taught Aoi herself, she knew that Aoi had the potential to destroy anything in her path should she would to be commanded. Orochimaru just could not risk losing Sasuke to Aoi, even though understanding that fact that Aoi would not blow her cover no matter what, even if her life was to be in danger.

Seeing Orochimaru looking back at her, Kagetsu understood that he was silently asking her whether this was her doing, since to be honestly, few among Akatsuki trusted one another.

Putting Orochimaru far behind her mind, Kagetsu started pondering about the situation, she was not worried about missing the chance, as Aoi could still go after that boy anytime after this match. She was more worried about Tako, where was he? He was supposed to sabotage the board so that the names would appear in the order they wanted, and from there, once their task completed, assassinate the Hokage on the spot, four against one. Taking a brief look at the clock mounted on the wall, Kagetsu figured that he would probably be moving onto the second goal before joining them here with the three of them.

Nevertheless, this would be a glorious day regardless of what mishaps, in her mind, she calculated that, Ito and Issunsaki should be at Lightning Country by now, the younger Uchiha and Hoshigaki should be already fighting the Mizukage, and Kitahara and his great grandson probably should be reaching Iwagakure soon. With the Forbidden Scroll of the Sand already in Orochimaru's hand, nothing could possibly go wrong.

**x**

Sasuke stood ready down below, with Sakura watching him anxiously from above on the observing platform. Abumi Aoi climbed the stairs down, and eventually found herself standing just five feet away from Sasuke.

"Third match, please begin," Hayate mumbled along with coughs.

Uchiha Sasuke, a talented and skilful Genin, possessing great potential and more importantly, the legendary Sharingan, Sasuke was now one of the rare few who owned the special gift. In his climb up the ladder to achieve his dream of defeating the murderer of his parents, Sasuke had fought with some rather impressive foes, yet, even until now, he found even scarier Genins of his age, first it was Haku, then now Gaara and Shino, and to be honest, his two teammates were in fact frightening as well. However right now, Sasuke felt as if the one before him right now, this Abumi Aoi, could be among the list.

He did not know why, but he felt like he was meeting someone familiar, yet he could find no face that looked even remotely alike with Aoi's.

Forcing his eyes shut, and shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Sasuke needed to concentrate on the coming match. Reopening his eyes, the first thing he saw was Aoi's knee, bashing right into his forehead. Knocked backwards, Sasuke then felt two legs clamping onto both sides of his neck, twisting him into clashing onto the floor.

While Aoi wanted to kick Sasuke one more time while he was still down, she missed when Sasuke rolled, throwing kunai towards her as means of distraction while he regained his position.

"Goukakyuu no Jutsu! **(#1)**" Sasuke took in a deep breath before he exhaled out a huge ball of fire towards Aoi.

Parting her lips, the seal placed within her activated **(#2)**, channelling part of its power over to the Genin. Aoi then quickly responded to Sasuke's flame attack by slamming both palms together, reopening them with both palms facing Sasuke. At the very instance when the flame would embrace her, Aoi pulled open the invisible shield, spreading the surface area of the shield as wide as possible. **(#3)**

For the next few seconds, the audience of the match waited for the outcome on whether Aoi survived, having been swallowed by the exploding fire. When the fire subsided, revealing Aoi remaining unharmed standing in the middle of a ring of fire, Sasuke scowled, quickly running through his mind on how the girl could survive his attack without even suffering burned crisped hair.

_"The ring of fire seems to mark the nearest distance the fire could reach her, what was that jutsu that created such a powerful barrier from my fire from reaching her? What was that glow that I saw just now inside her mouth moments before the flames reached her?"_

Abumi Aoi remained emotionless, her arms hanging limply by the sides, her eyes closed, but her lips remained slightly ajar. Her hair easily reached her waist, and was a soft gold hue, her eyes (when opened) were light cyan blue, and perhaps that was where the word 'Aoi' came from?

Dropping her jaw wide open, Aoi's eyes sprang open, her hands moving closer to create a seal. Almost immediately, Sasuke's left palm came within range to strike against her. Seeing Sasuke's movement, Aoi changed her plans, catching Sasuke's left hand, but failing to notice Sasuke turning in an anti-clockwise motion, remaining stationary on his left leg, he turned half a circle to kick Aoi in the face with his right leg.

The shock from Sasuke's kick stunned Aoi for a second, but she remained to have the hold over Sasuke's left hand, raising one leg, she hooked it over Sasuke'e left arm. Twisting with her body, Aoi forced Sasuke down onto his knees in pain. Bending down together with Sasuke, Aoi used her left leg to kick Sasuke.

Forcing his hand free at the expense of feeling his arm almost pulled out of its socket, he quickly retreated backwards while holding his injured left arm with his right hand. Aoi came charging in without a rest, but was caught off-guard when Sasuke squatted down, and kicked at her chin upwards, sending her flying. Bouncing off his hands, Sasuke quickly followed after Aoi's flight pattern, coming right underneath her in a rapid speed.

Sasuke moved his left leg to deliver a kick to the left, when Aoi quickly blocked it, Sasuke immediately swung the other way, this time kicking Aoi at the other side, sending her down.

"Gaaa!"

Turning a full circle around, Sasuke finished it off with another kick as Aoi crashed onto the tiles. "Shishi Rendan **(#4)**!"

**(A/N: I feel so uneasy making Sasuke doing his Lion Combo on a girl… But oh what the heck!)**

Aoi coughed out splatter of blood as Sasuke rolled away to safety in case of a counterattack. Springing into another battle stance, Sasuke waited to see if the judge was going to let him win on the account of that combo he did on Aoi. To everyone's surprise, Aoi rolled onto her stomach, and slowly pushed herself up, obviously to the discomfort of her wound.

Sasuke spied Hayate taking a step back among the adults, the Jounin almost disqualified Aoi seeing her in pain. Hissing a sign of irritation, Sasuke turned his attention back towards Aoi, when suddenly, ripples of pain started to pulse through him. His hands shaking, trying to control himself, he realised that the pain came from the seal on his neck.

_"Did the fighting activate it?!"_

Behind him, a few of the adults shifted uncomfortably, noticing the seal on Sasuke's neck for the first time, among them were the Hokage and Kakashi, who both mastered the art of seals.

Peeling her helmet-like headwear off her head, Aoi ran through the side of her head, before releasing the little string tying her hair together. Pulling the string out with one hand, Aoi wiped the blood off her lips with the other as her blonde hair bounced lively from its previous bondage. Throwing the helmet aside (along with the symbol of the Hidden Sound), Aoi prepared a jutsu.

Cursing on the pain troubling him, Sasuke quickly threw two kunai towards Aoi as another wave of pain came upon him. Due to the pain, Sasuke's aim was not as true as before, but nevertheless, one of the two kunai found their target, placing itself deeply in Aoi's left shoulder.

This time ignoring the pain, Aoi continued casting a jutsu as a strange mist started to rise from her feet, soon engulfing the both of them.

_"Hmm? She using Kirigakure no Jutsu _**(#5)**_ to conceal herself?_ _T__o what end will we have to play a game of hide-and-seek if I play along, I will dig you out with this technique instead! It may not be suited for this, but I will get you to reveal your location nevertheless!"_

From Aoi's point-of-view, Sasuke rapidly disappeared from her sight, though seeing him calmly casting a jutsu in reply to her Kirigakure no Jutsu was rather disappointing, did he already create a plan of countermeasure against her tactics already? Mist rose, separating the two Genins, Aoi then calmly took steps backward.

Out the battlefield, the mist took to a great height and distance, even the Jounins teachers were backing up, not wanting to be swallowed up by it. Circling around, Aoi came behind Sasuke, though something told her that she was not alone. Ignoring the threats, she took the risk and immediately came up from behind Sasuke. The surprised Sasuke did not offer much resistance, taking the hits that Aoi delivered.

By that time that Aoi realised that something was wrong, there were too many footsteps coming his way, suddenly two Sasukes crept up from behind her, and only one jutsu came into mind. Only Kage Bushin no Jutsu **(#6)** could create clones that could fight back at her without being dispersed by her blows, that could mean that she was surrounded already? Sasuke sent one of his clones to lure her out, since unlike Aoi, Sasuke could not use training using sound and echo detect enemy's location.

However, in this battlefield whereby Sasuke was as good as blind, no matter how many real shadow clones there were in here with her, there was still no way he could catch her if she was careful enough. Taking in mind of that, Aoi decided to continue with her plan. This fight was getting exhausting to her, and with the restriction put on her by Tsuchi Kin, she was unable to use her most devastative technique on Sasuke, so that left her with her one last option.

Using this jutsu originally required immense concentration, but since training with it, Ino could invoke it with ease, the only requirement left now was to make Sasuke stay still while she cast it on him.

Meanwhile, hiding in the corner of the room was the real Sasuke, sending out more than three shadow clones was more exhausting than he had imagined, not to mention that somehow Aoi managed to dodge every moves the clones sent out, since she could detect their movements through sound.

_"She probably could hear a lot better than all of us, and will she be able to find out my location considering that I have been staying still?"_

Sasuke treaded the ground silently, searching for his opponent, he found out that he could not open his Sharingan eyes, as the Curse Seal on the back of his neck would hurt a lot the moment he did. Even now with his Sharingan not activated, he could still feel sharp mild pain as if someone was jabbing a needle onto his neck.

Distracted by the thoughts of the seal, he did not foresee Aoi approaching him straight up, in the dense mist between them. When he finally noticed her presence, it was too late, as Aoi released her jutsu on him.

"Shintenshin no Jutsu **(#7)**!" Aoi spoke with her open palms facing Sasuke.

The last thought on Sasuke's mind before he started to lose conscious was the name of the jutsu. '_Shintenshin no Jutsu?! Isn't that- Arghh! What's going on?!_ His minds started to fade to black, reconfirming for him the effect of the jutsu, soon, he knew that he would lose the ability to move his body. Shintenshin no Jutsu was the jutsu used by the Yamanaka clan, allowing the mind of the user to slip into the mind of the victim, controlling his every move for a limited time. Everything turned into darkness, as Sasuke fell completely into the effect of the jutsu.

**x**

Time froze for the two of them, as the consciousness of 'Aoi' forced herself into the body of Sasuke. Darkness engulfed the two of them, allowing Aoi to come face-to-face with a faded white silhouette, representing the spiritual depiction of Sasuke's weakened and suppressed consciousness.

Right now, Aoi was in full control of Sasuke's body, with limited access to his mind, emotions, and memories. Now that was left for her to do was to inflict a fatal wound on himself, though she could not take on a full instant death injury while inside the body of her victim, she could still inflict a serious wound on the victim before quickly escaping out of the body. Moreover, with the body suffering from a hopefully fatal bleeding, Aoi could just finish off the weakened opponent.

_"Who are you…?_ A voice called out from around her."

Surprised by the question, Aoi quickly looked at the sleeping silhouette of Sasuke, his eyes were close, and his breathing was shallow.

_"What was that…? Was it just a flickering thought?"_

_"Ino?"_ A second conveying thought came through.

_"What's that?! Ino?! That name… Yama…"_

_"Yamanaka Ino… Your face… You are… Ino…"_

_"Argh!"_ Aoi screamed in silent, her mind was beginning to remember, her head bombarded by thoughts and memories of a girl who once existed before Abumi Aoi. There were so many memories of her inside this body, enough to bring Aoi back to herself, almost everything came back to her at that instant.

**x**

Back in the real world, Aoi was forced back into her body by the overloading of too many memories, from both Sasuke's and Ino's. Clutching onto the temples of her head, trying to calm the splitting headache, Aoi's mist was slowly dispersing once she lost her hold on the technique, now that Sasuke had clearer look, Aoi indeed looked a lot like Ino, her hair and face had changed, but not her eyes. Sasuke caused himself for why did not recognise her before!

Just as confused as he was, Aoi was in no position to fight, with the mist starting to disappear around them, Aoi decided that it was time for her to retreat, instantly running out of the arena without even giving any explanation to the judge. When the mist finally subsided, only Sasuke remained, those watching the match were left wondering what happened. Upon seeing the absence of the Sound-nin, Hayate announced Sasuke as the winner of this round, not long after that, after gathering his strength, Sasuke ran out of the arena as well.

Dashing out of the room, he swept this view left and right, and succeeded in spotting the grey spotted scarf that all Sound-nin wore disappearing around the corner to his right. Sasuke did not understand yet what was going on, only that Yamanaka Ino was back, he needed to find her quick before she disappeared again.

"Ino!" Sasuke found himself shouting her name, almost slipping on the corner, he quickly caught up with the girl who appeared to be struggling to escape from him, with one hand holding onto her aching forehead, still from the after-effect of his brain being mind-raped.

Catching her left arm, Sasuke spun Aoi around to face him. Even with the Sound forehead protector gone, Sasuke could still not see the resemblance between the two girls, did he see wrongly? Was it a mistake that he identified her as a childhood friend that he lost? _"No!"_

"Ino," Sasuke confirmed for himself one last time.

"Argh!" Ino groaned, it seemed as if the pain that was troubling her was getting worse.

"Ino!" Sasuke said, it was all he could react at the moment, still unbelieving what was happening.

"Sasuke-kun," Ino whispered out his name with great pain, yet it did not sound like she was calling out to him, rather, it was more like her remembering something. Her eyes suddenly brightened, finally everything came back to her, and the boy in front of her was indeed the boy she remembered as 'Sasuke'.

Her face turned to a smile, but suddenly a face of horror appeared on it instead as a shadow crept up behind Sasuke. Seeing her expression just as Aoi shouted out her warning towards him, Sasuke turned with one kunai drawn.

A finger tapped gently the centre of his forehead, mumbling her memory-sealing curse, Jingi Kagetsu quickly undone the damage created by these two, "You won the match, and do not remember Ino's identity as Aoi, and you will not question what happened. Go back to your friends."

"Kagetsu-sensei! What are you doing?!" Ino shouted as she went over to Sasuke's side, shaking his shoulders, trying to wake him up.

"Believe me, Aoi-chan, that it is for the best that he does not remember who you are. He will only get himself hurt from learning too much, like you have right now."

"I… Why were my memories sealed, Kagetsu-sensei? Was the time I have spent with you all lies? How can I know what is real, and what is not?"

"Aoi-chan…," Kagetsu mumbled sadly.

Seeing the hurt expression on her teacher's face, Ino could not find herself question her teacher any further.

"Why are you pitting me against Sasuke-kun?" Ino asked instead.

"It is never our intention for you and Sasuke-kun to fight, you should at least be able to remember that, and tell that what I have said is true. I did not want to hurt you, but proving your worth to the organisation is the only way to show that saving your life was worth their problem."

"My life?"

"You were sickened with a fever **(#8)**, and Issunsaki-san **(#9)** was the only one who could save you. She told me that your illness came from you wanting to forget something bad, so to save you, I sealed your memories…"

"I…"

"Aoi-chan, you are specifically trained for this mission, if you fail… I can't promise you that what… Please, Aoi-chan, please complete your mission as you are briefed, it is no longer just for Akatsuki. Complete your task, and I will return you all your memories. You should know Sasuke-kun is not on our list, no harm will come on him," Kagetsu said as she kneeled down before Ino, embracing gently on her cheeks with her palms.

"Complete my task? I have to fight that boy?" Ino asked in the end.

"You have the jutsu to defeat him, and you have the _tool_ to capture him. Do as you are told, Aoi-chan," Kagetsu pleaded once again. "Please…"

"I…"

* * *

**- Glossary -**

**#1 :: Goukakyuu no Jutsu** – Powerful Fireball Technique.  
**#2 :: Seal** – Drawn onto of Aoi's tongue is a seal that allows her to use her current abilities. The seal is capable of creating sound-based techniques.  
**#3 :: Onpatate no Jutsu** – Sound Shield Technique.  
**#4 :: Shishi Rendan** – Lion Combo.  
**#5 :: Kirigakure no Jutsu** – Hidden Mist Technique.  
**#6 :: Kage Bushin no Jutsu** – Kakashi taught Sasuke as mentioned as the 'secret technique' in chapter 28, and he used it during his fight with Lee in the same chapter.  
**#7 :: ****Shintenshin no Jutsu** – Mind Body Switch Technique.  
**#8 :: Fever** – Ino was down with fever in chapter 11.  
**#9 :: ****Issunsaki-san **– Akatsuki number 9.


	39. Team 8, Part III

**Act 6: Congregation  
Chapter 39: Team 8 (III)  
**Updated on: 10 September, 2007

* * *

Perhaps it was the shock from being saved by the very same technique that almost killed her back in Wave Country, that caused her to not immediately register the pain pulsing through all over her body, but once she did, it was unbearable. While on the stretcher to the medical ward, she was doing nothing but forcing not to scream and cry in pain. One hand squeezing as tightly as she could at the metal bar supporting the stretcher, another hand clutching firmly against a warm hand offered to her for comfort.

**x**

Haku blinked a little before her vision started to clear up once again, staring at the unfamiliar white ceiling, she briefly recalled what happened, and realised that she could only be in a hospital. Shutting her eyes shut at the very instant of remembering the pain, Haku tried to push away the thoughts of the sand from Gaara's gourd literally squeezing the very life out of her body.

Rubbing her eyes with her right hand, Haku suddenly wondered what was the fleshy thingy that she was holding onto with her left hand. Looking down from her shoulder, her eyes came onto the hand that she was clutching tightly onto, tracing up the hand, Haku found herself looking face to face at the owner of the foreign hand.

"Yo," Naruto greeted while beaming widely.

"Argh!" Haku instantly retracted her hand back. "What are you doing here, Naruto-kun," Haku said as she started to recompose herself, calming down, taking a quick peek to check if she was still clothed. Mentally noting that she was still in her battle attire, Haku let out a silent sigh of relief.

"Um, you refused to let go of my hand," Naruto said embarrassingly as she massaged his right wrist.

"Ah, I see, thank you," Haku said awkwardly. Now that Naruto mentioned it, Haku started to remember what happened after she was carried out of the arena on a stretcher, again the pain from her injuries came back briefly to haunt her. One particular thing that remained on her mind was the way the medics looked at her injuries, discussing something very technical, yet she could understand that they were worry about the damages done to her body.

Lifting the blanket up, Haku gave a quick glance underneath it, finding both her legs wrapped up in a strange smelly bandage with several seals and talismans sticking on it.

"Don't worry too much, Haku-chan, rest a while, I'm sure you will be fine," Naruto smiled as he stood up from where he sat. "Well, I guess that I will be going now, see you later Haku-chan."

"Naruto-kun!" Haku called out, who at the very instant wondered why she did so.

"Hmm?" Naruto turned to look at Haku upon her calling his name.

"Good luck in your match, Naruto-kun," Haku said in the end, hiding the confusion in her heart.

Smiling back, Naruto left the ward. Seeing the boy leaving her, the room suddenly felt a lot bigger than it was before. Pulling the blanket over her face, Haku tried to ignore the fact that she could no longer feel her legs.

**x**

Outside the ward, Naruto looked down at his open right palm, flexing the fingers to make sure that they were still alive, he clutched it into a fist, as if trying to grasp onto the fleeing feeling in his hand. Naruto's grin slipped away as he walked away from the room, grim thoughts returned, recalling the words exchanged between the medics as they fought to save Haku's legs. Having studied under Tsunade before **(A/N: Chapter 12)**, Naruto had a limited knowledge of medical jutsu, but enough to know that Haku's legs injury was no small matter.

"How do you feel visiting your friend in hospital?" a voice came from behind him.

Naruto was stunned frozen stiff, barely letting out another breath, he realised that he heard the voice somewhere before. Spinning around to greet the visitor with one kunai drawn, the presence disappeared immediately, Naruto was unable to detect the location of the speaker. Growling through his grinded teeth, Naruto shouted back, "You! One year ago, when Orochimaru attacked us, you were with him! You are… Hakkotsu! What do you want?!"

Stepping out from the shadows, Hakkotsu appeared before Naruto, draped in the same green cloak she worn back when they first met at Festival Village **(A/N: Chapter 12)**. Despite Hakkotsu being Orochimaru's lackey, and that they fought before, Naruto could not find the reason to hate her, as she had after all secretly helped him before.

"Do you feel helpless?" Hakkotsu asked emotionlessly.

"What?" Naruto questioned back in turn.

"Seeing your friend succumbed to Gaara's Sabaku Kyuu, do you feel helpless? Even if you join force with Haku, would you be able to help her in any way? Do you have anything up your sleeves capable of freeing her, Naruto-kun?" Hakkotsu challenged.

"What? Cut the crap, what do you want?!" Naruto shouted, throwing his kunai towards her, but expectedly, she allowed the kunai to hit her. As if hitting heavy armour, the kunai bounced off her with a thump.

"Naruto-kun, if you wish to survive, you will need to use it."

Knowing what Hakkotsu was referring to, Naruto growled, "And to kill someone in the process?!"

"You do not understand the way Kyuushuuryoku works-"

"Blah! What do you know about my bloodline ability?!"

"Your inability to control your Kyuushuuryoku is because you have not properly practice with it at all. Every Hizashi started with not being able to unleash its full potential. Yes, using it too much is deadly, but if you do not tamed the skill, when the time comes when you need to use it without training, you will berserk like a year ago."

"What the-"

"Ever since that incident **(A/N: Chapter 12)**, you have been trying to hide the existence of your power within you, thinking that you can save the lives of others by not using Kyuushuuryoku, but you are wrong, Naruto-kun," the kunoichi said, a hand reaching out towards Naruto. "Take this, Naruto-kun."

Wondering if it was wise to do so, Naruto stepped forward, to take a small silver pocket watch from Hakkotsu. Pressing the button at the top, the lip popped open, revealing a normal clock face with larger twelve digits in the increment of five on it, and sixty smaller lines surrounding the numbers, and two hands of different size and length.

"Use this watch when you practice, use it to gauge your ability, release your power and finish your opponent within one minute. Naruto-kun, soon, you may have to use your unique skill to protect others."

"One minute?"

"That is your current limit, each time you use your ability, you may increase your time limit. By doing so, you will slowly train your body into coexisting with the power of Kyuushuuryoku."

"Why should I trust you?"

"There are few who you can trust, and many of those will die if you do not learn to control your ability. One day, you will need to be able to fight with it rather than without it, if you don't, you yourself will not survive."

Looking down at the silver pocket watch in his hand, Naruto was doing some deep thinking, a rare event that most people would not associate with the boy who was commonly seen playing a fool about.

"Naruto-kun, I know what you are currently thinking." Naruto looked up, his eyes told Hakkotsu that she was right. If she could smile, she would at that moment. "You are thinking of healing Haku's legs with the power of Kyuushuuryoku."

Naruto's eyes narrowed, though his emotions could not be read.

"You who have understudied the great Tsunade-sama, should probably have heard from her about your father's theory of using the Kyuushuuryoku for medical purposes. Though, in the end, he failed miserably," Hakkotsu said with a hint of regret.

"You know even that… Just how much have you know about the bloodline?"

"Do not do it, Naruto-kun, you will only end up hurting yourself. Though, if you are really his son, I doubt anything I say will be able to convince you otherwise. Then, at least listen to this, even if you do not care about what will happen to yourself should you fail, at least think about what will happen to her if you fail."

"…"

"Think about it, Naruto-kun, your ability is only good for protecting people you love, but never to save them," Hakkotsu said. Taking steps back, she disappeared back among the shadows, leaving Naruto to ponder upon her words.

Shoving the pocket watch into his pocket, Naruto walked off rapidly in the direction of the battle stage.

**x**

Sakura was worried about Naruto, even Sasuke who left after him had already returned, Sakura sighed at the thoughts of them running out on her.

Yet she could not say that she had been alone all this while, for some reason, her inner self just could not stop yapping. Talking about nonsense that made no sense to Sakura, she could only just ignore Inner Sakura, and tried to concentrate on the fight between Nara Shikamaru and Tsuchi Kin.

Previously, Shikamaru had already caught Kin in his Kagemane no Jutsu **(#3)**, he played around a fool for a bit, making Kin doing all sort of funny actions, before finally throwing a few kunai towards her. Since Kin was caught in his jutsu, she too would take out a few kunai, mimicking his action, and threw it at him. As the two of them dodged the kunai thrown by one another, Kin's head crashed backwards against the wall. Sakura swore that she almost thought that the building was going to collapse with a noise that loud. The match ended with Shikamaru winning the fight.

As if on cue with the head-banging, wall-cracking gong, a Sound-nin walked in, she seemed to be distracted, enough to not take any notice of her own teammate being carried out on another stretcher with foams coming out of her mouth (and the medics sighing). Abumi Aoi rejoined Kinuta Kyoko on the platform, instead of muttered a curse of Kin's uselessness as Sakura would expect her to do, she only stood still like a puppet.

"Well… I hope that Naruto-kun will be back soon, he already missed out three matches already, it may be either of our turn already," Sakura said, leaning over to look at the electronic board, waiting for the results of the next two fighters.

"You sound confident," Sasuke whispered, noticing the absence of her usual hint of insecurity within her voice. _"She changed so much just within one month, if this goes on, I will lose her as well… Lose… who? Did I forget something…?"_

"Huh? What's that?" Sakura asked.

"No, nothing."

**x**

"Hey guys, the next match is starting already," Kiba said as he nudged his elbow gently towards Shino. Catching the attention of Hinata, she turned to look at the electronic board as well, somehow, a bad feeling about what was coming up came over her. Swallowing down her fear, she forced her eyes shut.

"The first name is…," Shino said in a rather calm manner, but from the way his voice just trailed off to nothing, Hinata could tell that it was her turn already. Opening her eyes, she confirmed it for herself, the board on the wall read: 'HYUUGA HINATA VS …'

"It's no big deal, Hinata-chan, we will be cheering for you!" Kiba said as he patted gently on the shoulder of the nervous girl. Behind Kiba, Shino agreed with a nod.

"Hey, Naruto-kun's back," a voice said somewhere away from the three of them, turning, Hinata saw as the blond kid walked in with big steps with both hands stuffed into his pockets. Waving back at Sakura, Naruto climbed up the stairs as well, momentarily passing by Hinata's back as he joined up with Sakura and Sasuke.

_"Naruto… -kun… I need to do this! I can do this!"_

"Hmm…," Shino muttered, causing both Kiba and Hinata to turn and look at him. Pointing with one hand, the two kids read from the sign, which had already decided on the second name.

'HYUUGA HINATA VS INUZUKA KIBA'

"Huh?! It can't be me, can it?" Kiba questioned.

"Up next, Hinata versus Kiba, please ready yourselves," Hayate announced without missing a beat, not realising that behind him, the Hokage and Jounin teachers shuffled among their ranks, discussing on the outcome of the lot. Knowing that it should have been so, since the machine was programmed not to choose members from the same team, at least until the final round.

"Hehe, Kiba-kun, good luck," Hinata said in a tiny voice, though Kiba was still in too much shock to hear that.

As Hayate finally noticed the happening among the Jounins behind him, a random Chuunin was called to the side of the Hokage before running out of the hall in great haste. Looking at the Hokage, Hayate silently asked for approval to continue, just as Yuuhi Kurenai was walking from her position over to the Hokage's side.

"Hokage-sama," the female Jounin voiced. "Should we…"

"In either case, we will need to reset the machine to, we-"

Looking up, Kurenai saw for herself what surprised the Hokage, widening her eyes in surprise as she watched as Hinata walking down the stairs.

**x**

"Is she acknowledging the match?" Neji asked himself, questioning himself, ever since the start of this Chuunin exam, Neji could already see the grow in the little weak cousin he left back home.

"Aren't the two of them teammates?" Tenten asked back.

"Are you okay with this, Neji-kun," Lee asked.

"What do you mean?"

"They are after all going to fight, that mean that the two of you won't be getting the chance to…"

"It's not like I have a say in this, nevertheless, I'm disappointed that we will not be able to spar."

"Do you think that she will lose?" Tenten asked out of curiosity.

"No, she's a Hyuuga, no matter how strong that boy is, she will never allow herself to lose."

**x**

"Is this… a challenge… to me, Hinata-chan," Kiba whispered while looking down from the platform at the arena below him.

"Go, Kiba," Shino said. "Hinata is ready."

_"Hinata-chan… Why must we… AAARGH!"_

Nodding, Kiba jumped over the railing and landed in front of Hinata.

**x**

"What's with all this tension?" Naruto asked.

"Don't you get it, Naruto-kun?" Sakura asked. Upon him shaking his head, she replied, "The two of them are from the same team, to ask them to fight one another, that means that only one of them can stand to pass the exam! It's cruel! As friends, will you be able to fight us, Naruto-kun?"

**x**

Turning around one more time, Hayate gave the Hokage one last questioning stare, and was surprised to see that it was Kurenai who nodded back.

"Are you sure about this?" the Hokage asked.

"I believe, it's time for the two of them to fight, their toughest fight will be after all the one who know each other the best."

"Only one of them will pass, you do understand that," the Hokage reminded.

"I also understand that it is for the better."

Turning back to face the two fighters, Hayate sighed, and announced the start of the next match, "Hyuuga Hinata versus Inuzuka Kiba, please begin."

As everyone watching the match tensed up, wondering who will initiate the first strike, Hinata spoke softly to her friend, "Kiba-kun, we… please fight seriously, I need to know whether I can do this." A forceful look appeared on her face, though Kiba could sense that she was being serious about this fight.

Kiba sighed, shaking his head, diverting his glace away from the girl

"Kiba-kun?" Hinata asked, seeing the dejected Genin clutching his fists tightly together.

"Just this once, Hinata-chan," Kiba whispered through his clenched jaws. "_It will hurt it as much as it hurt you."_

"Akamaru! Let's go all out on this!"

_"We know each other's moves so well, will we be able to win with such a limitation placed upon us?"_

Taking out two soldier pills from his pouch, he popped one into his mouth, while throwing the other at Akamaru, who caught it with his mouth, and chewed it down. Chewing it loudly, the pill broke under the impact of Akamaru's jaws, and almost instantly, the little puppy changed in appearance, evolving into a red fierce creature twice his size.

"Juujin Bunshin **(#4)**!" Kiba shouted, crouching forward onto all four, his face distorted to a terrible-looking ferocious proportion. The new Akamaru leapt onto his back, and did the same, and with a sudden puff of smoke, the two of them emerged with an identical appearance. Both wearing the guise of Inuzuka Kiba, both preparing to tear their prey apart, yet all this while, Hinata merely placed one foot back, standing in a stance **(#5)** only familiar to few in this room.

"Byakugan," Hinata shouted out, breaking the disguise of calmness as fierce veins protruded from the area around her eyes. The once timid face transformed into something that could see almost everything, including the lightning fast movements made by the two Kibas.

Jumping off from Kiba's back, Akamaru in the guise of Kiba pounced towards the girl, just as the real Kiba moved from his position at the very instance, one over, one around, both seeking a blind spot. For a brief second, Akamaru passed by Hinata over her, but it was enough for her Byakugan to see it. Dodging it even before it happened, Hinata took two steps to her left, just in time to duck from Kiba's attack from her right.

The three of them repeated their dance for the next few moves, and it soon became apparent to the audience that even at their current speed and teamwork, Kiba and Akamaru could not hide their intention from Hinata's Byakugan.

Up above the observing platform, where Shino stood and watched the match, he commented with true worries over their performance, to him, it was obvious that the two of them were hiding their true fighting abilities. "What are you doing, Kiba, are you giving Hinata's a chance to strike you down? Is this how you intend to fight, even as Hinata wanted to fight only your true self?"

The similar thought was going through Neji's mind, with his Byakugan, already he saw several points of weakness that could send Kiba flying from his formation if Hinata was do it right. Yet he understood her all so clearly, he could guess what was going through her mind, even as she talked big, and walked proudly to the arena, she was still hesitating, after all, this Kiba could very well be her best male friend throughout her life.

Kiba and Akamaru continued to spin around her, displaying the simplified version of their usual Gatsuuga **(#6)** technique. Similarly, despite what she requested of the two of them, Hinata could not find the strength in her fight back. Though her speed was not as fast as the two of them were, fighting together along with Shino had trained her with his usual pattern and attacking style, unless Kiba decided to change, Hinata could go on predicting where they would hit next, and simply dodge it.

Distracted on the spot, Akamaru came close, brushing by her skin, tearing her right sleeve into tattered pieces handing by their threads. Unexpectedly, along with the pain, brought back sudden memories of her cousin, turning her head upwards, risking a short peek, and saw a disapproving frown on Neji's otherwise calm face. Hinata could understand how he felt, to be a Hyuuga was to be one of the best, even with the reputation of the Inuzuka clan during the Shinobi Wars, there was no reason for her to lose to him, much less to be the first to shed blood.

Her glance slipped from one side to another, where a boy with golden hair stood, along with Sakura and Sasuke. _"His name is Naruto._ Somehow, the image of him just standing there gave her strength to continue on. _I must remember that this fight is not just for me, I need to show him… that I am strong!"_

In a kneeling position on the floor, Hinata was once again exposed to the danger. As Kiba flashed by her once more, showing off an illusion of threat to her life, Hinata caught a glimpse of Kiba's eyes. It was the same eyes as before, belonging to a boy much louder than herself, having both courage and confidence, yet gentle to his every touch, so similar to Naruto's own blue eyes.

On the other end of the pair of white Byakugan eyes' glance were Kiba's own canine-like eyes. Reading her pearl-white eyes, it did not take him long to realise what was going on in her mind, in fact, he could see the blond kid's reflection in her eyes, for a brief while, Kiba's and Hinata's attentions were united, focusing on a single thought, to defeat one another. "_This shall not continue! I need to show her that-"_

Suddenly, Hinata's movement changed, still as gracefully as always, Hinata finally counter-attacked back. Striking Akamaru right in the chest area, pushing him out of the Tsuuga-like battle formation, sending him crash-landed on the ground. Hinata turned to face Kiba, her eyes filled with determination, droplets of perspiration dripped down her chin, not because of what she did to Akamaru, but rather of what she would have to do to bring the tougher Kiba down.

_"Hinata-chan, _e_ven since we met him that day _**(A/N: Chapter 26)**_, you have changed, stronger now. But I need to prove that… I… can… protect you."_

"Tsuuga!" Kiba shouted, landing behind Hinata, he spun around to face Hinata's back before starting to spin furiously until his body became a blur. Like a tornado, Kiba's speed and destructive power increased several folds.

Hinata knew what a Tsuuga is, and had witnessed its power, by using Tsuuga on her, Kiba had finally turned serious on her. Smiling yet worrying, knowing very well that mere punch from her Jyuken (Gentle Fist) would not be enough to push him back.

"Hakkeshou: Kaiten **(#7)**!"

_"! What technique is that?!"_ Too slow to divert away his own Tsuuga, Kiba could only continue, wondering what technique had Hinata not shown them before.'

At the very instant Kiba almost connected his claws onto Hinata's body, she released chakra from all her chakra openings, stepping lightly using her right foot, she caused her body to spin like a top. With her Byakugan eyes, Kiba who was trapped midair received full blow from her Heavenly Spin. Blasted upwards and away from Hinata, Kiba growled in pain, but it was not over as Hinata prepared her second move.

**x**

"Neji-kun, isn't that your…," Tenten commented, sweats rolling down, even after seeing Neji performed his Hakkeshou: Kaiten, also known as Heavenly Spin, so many times, it was scary to know that such a girl like Hinata could use it as well.

"It is a technique more commonly use in the Main Branch, so there was nothing surprising about this, what is interesting is what Hinata-sama planning to do next. By blowing that boy up in the air, she will be able to…"

**x**

"Hakkeshou: Rokujuu Yonshou **(#8)**!" Hinata shouted, as she watched Kiba flew upwards, blown up by her spin. "_Kiba-kun should be weakened by now, if I perform this right, the fight will be over, and Kiba-kun won't be suffering any long term damage. But… will I be able to…?"_

Meanwhile, above Hinata, Kiba eyed the girl below, thinking to himself, "_Damn! I know that technique! If she finished the whole thing on me, I'm finished! Without a solid ground for me to initiate a spin, I can't start my Tsuuga!"_

Watching Kiba falling towards her, Hinata understood that soon he would be under her field, she had never perform this right before, but this would be the only way she could think of that could end this fight immediately.

The moment Kiba fell onto the ground, Hinata started her move. "Hakke, two hands!" Hinata shouted as she dashed into position, pecking two points on Kiba's body.

_"Argh! What's this, it feels like- I can't lose here! A little more! I must show that I-"_

"Four hands! Eight hands!" Hinata continued, placing Kiba's chakra holes, preventing him from using them. "Sixteen hands! Thirty-"

"Akamaru, now!" Kiba shouted.

_"What?!"_ Being so focus on her Hakkeshou, Hinata forgot to keep an eye on Akamaru! Using her Byakugan to look behind her, she saw Akamaru running towards them.

"Tsuuga!" Kiba commanded as he dived forward, catching hold onto Hinata's arms. Akamaru picked up speed as he started spinning, turning it into a Tsuuga.

"Kiba-kun!" Hinata shouted out, seeing Kiba in pain yet holding onto her, so that Akamaru could use the Tsuuga on the two of them. Hinata did not have the ability to use another spin against Akamaru, and neither could she finish her Hakke now. Hinata's eyes widened in fear as Akamaru's spinning attack came closer to the two of them.

The three of them crashed together, as the ground behind them shattered on the impact made by Akamaru. As dust cloud rose to cover the area, no one could see what happened, did Hinata escaped? As the cloud of dirt and dust subsided, the first thing that appeared was…

"Kiba!" Kurenai shouted from her position, exposing her worries to everyone.

It became apparent that Kiba was not hurt by Akamaru's Tsuuga, though he seemed to be unconscious, probably from Hinata's previous attacks. The rest of the dust dispersed with time, revealing Hinata and Akamaru (who had reverted to his original form) unconscious in the centre of a small crater.

"It's… a… draw," Hayate announced half-coughing, coughing harder than usual due to all the dusts blown up into the air.

The medics came out to check on the three of them, though Kurenai retreated to her spot, seemingly relieved.

"Aren't you worried?" the Hokage asked.

"They will be fine," Kurenai said with confidence.

"Though I must praise them on their courage and friendship, Kiba-kun who has no skills that could defeat Hinata-chan without hurting her, chose to take in most of Hakkeshou hits. Knowing that to defeat his friend, he would have to hurt her, he chose to suffer with her, bearing the pain as long as he could before calling for Akamaru."

"Yes, and it seemed that Hinata-chan managed to push Kiba-kun aside, knowing that she probably wouldn't be able to dodge or block the Tsuuga," Kurenai continued.

"Yuuhi-sensei, please go," the Hokage said with a smile. "All three students have completed this part of the test, I allow you to go look after them in the infirmary."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama," Kurenai said without hesitation, and ran off by the side exit. In the distance, Shino quietly walked away as well, following after the medics.

**x**

_A few days ago, after the events of chapter 26…_

Kiba could almost smell the change taking place within the girl, ever since the two of them parted their way from Konohamaru, Moegi, Udon _and_ Naruto, Hinata had since been thinking about something. Walking absentmindedly, as if stuck within her own fantasy, it was now Kiba who walked one step behind the girl.

"Hinata-chan!" Kiba barked out suddenly.

"Hmm?" Hinata answered, turning around, for a second, reverting back into her own natural self. Kiba hesitated for a while, prompting Hinata to ask once more, "Kiba-kun?"

"I will never let anything come to harm you!" Kiba sworn, though it was not what he intended to say initially.

"Kiba-kun, are you referring to the two Genins from the Hidden Sand?"

"Not just those two, I… will protect you from all harm, I swear it!"

"Thank you, Kiba-kun," Hinata said, giving the boy her most gentle smile, full of innocent and charm. It lasted all too soon as Hinata turned around to resume her walk home.

Observing the back of Hinata, Kiba wondered how their encounter with Naruto had changed them. There was only one step between the two of them, yet Kiba found it to be enough to separate the two of them. The one step became two, and became three as Hinata walked away from Kiba, the gap between them widened.

* * *

**- Glossary -**

**#3 :: Kagemane no Jutsu** – Shadow Copy Technique.  
**#4 :: Juujin Bunshin** – Beast Human Clone  
**#5 :: Hinata's stance** – Jyuken, Gentle Fist.  
**#6 :: Gatsuuga** – Double Piercing Fangs by Kiba and Akamaru, an advanced version of Kiba's Tsuuga.  
**#7 :: Hakkeshou: Kaiten** – Heavenly Spin, known as one of the few 'absolute defence' techniques.  
**#8 :: Hakkeshou: Rokujuu Yonshou** – Hand of the Eight Divinations: Sixty-four Palms.


	40. Uzumaki Naruto, Part IV

**Act 6: Congregation  
Chapter 40: Uzumaki Naruto (IV)  
**Updated on: 13 February, 2011

* * *

"Honestly, Kane-sensei, when was the last time the medical facilities in Practice Area 44 ever run out of wards!" the female nurse in white asked in a curious kind of tone, she tilted her head sideward, trying to peek to see if the older man in front of her was even listening to her in the first place. But then again, if there were enough beds to begin with, a normal nurse from the General Hidden Leaf Hospital like herself would not have been called in to assist to begin with, and she alone was just one of the few summoned in due to the foreseen increase in casualties for this year's Chuunin exam. Due to the place's remote location, the tower's manpower and resources were often stretched to the limit whenever a Chuunin exam occurred.

The doctor before her was one of the few stationed here who held both a degree in medical science and a Chuunin rank, his name was Kane. The old man Kane was masked like all other shinobi stationed within the tower, leaving only the eyes uncovered. And like the rest of the Chuunins and Genins in here, Kane was an older generation shinobi with a wicked sense of humour.

"It has been so many years since the Chuunin exam has become so… exciting," the older man spoke as he walked by a bed with the latest kid just brought in from battle, a rugged boy with black hair, with a little white pup sleeping uneasily on his master's stomach.

Feeling uneasy on the old man's view on all these fighting, the single nurse **(A/N: She used to be a named but minor OC who appeared in Iruka chapter, but her scene was removed later on due to a rewrite.) **quickly went on to the next bed. It was empty, as the young boy named Kankurou left almost immediately after he regained consciousness.

"I still remember that day, it was a special fight," the old man continued. "A young boy from our village fought against some hotshot from another Hidden Village, rumoured to be some kid genius. Their fight was long, it was a terrible sight to behold, their skills and techniques were rare even to the Jounin level, and the tower still bears the scar of their battle."

"What... happened to them?" the nurse asked, curious of the outcome.

"One of them became our Fourth Hokage," the doctor said in a matter-of-the-fact tone.

"Really? What about the other boy?"

"Well, we never did manage to find the rest of his body," Kane answered.

"Heh?! Wha- What do you… mean?" she timidly asked.

"We only found the head, the neck was cleanly shaved off at the neck. What's eerily was that the neck never stopped bleeding until it went dry. What's funny is the Fourth did not use any bladed weapons, I have no idea he achieved such a clean cut… I don't know, hands maybe?"

The nurse squeaked, shaken by what she heard, quickly giving a reason to exit the room, the young nurse left the room with great haste, hoping to join up with the other nurses who each were similarly stuck with another creepy ill-humoured (probably bald-patched) Chuunin doctor.

Chuckling at the nurse's frightened expression, Kane turned around and went back to work, reading the medical document attached on Kiba's bed.

"Well, honestly, my neck still itches every now and then, Kane-sensei."

"What?" Kane asked, turning around to see a Leaf-nin with a giant red scroll on his back leaning against the wall, Kane was pretty sure he wasn't there before. "Who are you? What are you doing here? This place is off-limit for you guys."

"Let me introduce myself," the Leaf-nin answered, ignoring Kane's instruction for him to leave. "You can call me 'Tako.'"

**x**

Sasuke was in no way paying attention to the latest match, his thoughts remained firmly along the line of what happened exactly. He had this hazy memory of defeating his opponent, Abumi Aoi, in the previous match, but he just could not dig up any more details. The impact of Akamaru's Tsuuga woke him up from his daydream, turning his head up to see both Naruto and Sakura obviously totally absorbed into the match. Sasuke was not interested, he could barely recall anything interesting about Hinata and Kiba, personally, Hinata had proved to be a disappointing Hyuuga.

"What do you think happened," Sakura asked nervously, her eyes still glued to the dust cloud below them. Naruto, who was equally shaken by the event, could only shake his head, leaning over as close as he could to the fight below.

When the outcome of the fight was revealed to all, both Sakura and Naruto appeared edgy but pleased that neither of the two were hurt too bad, then it dawned to him, that both of them probably pondered about the possibilities of fighting among themselves. Hinata and Kiba proved that nothing was impossible, especially the random drawing of the fighters. Putting his hands into his pocket, Sasuke was certain that he had forgotten something.

Neither Naruto nor Sakura noticed that Sasuke was troubled with something else, their thoughts were on the names of the next fight. Naruto, who was asked by Sakura about whether he could fight against someone he knew so well, started to think about it as well.

"Naruto-kun, you're next," Sakura whispered tensely.

Startled, Naruto looked up at the board to confirm it for himself, out of nowhere, the memory of him meeting Hakkotsu at the corridor surfaced. Putting on a brave face, and a cheerful grin, he gave Sakura and Sasuke a thumb's up.

The board started beeping again, revealing the name of the Genin he would have to fight, in the end, he was glad that it was some unfamiliar name.

"Uzumaki Naruto versus Akado Yoroi," the judge announced.

"Don't worry, guys, this will be quick!" Naruto said confidently.

"Be careful, Naruto," Sasuke said quickly.

"Huh? Sasuke-kun, what's wrong?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah, it's just… not like you… to worry about something like this," Naruto continued.

"Something is wrong, I can feel it," Sasuke replied

"Sharingan-sense is tingling?" Naruto joked.

"It's no laughing matter, Naruto, just be careful, up till now, we have no idea what this Yoroi is capable of, since our encounter with Kabuto, the two of them, Yoroi and Misumi, had been keeping to themselves."

"Sasuke-kun is right, Naruto-kun," Sakura said. "We don't know what they are capable of, be careful, Naruto-kun."

"Hmm, all right, I'll be careful," Naruto answered with a smile.

**x**

"Now… please begin," Hayate announced as both Yoroi and Naruto took a few steps back, creating enough space for the two of them to move around.

"Are you ready?" Yoroi's deeper voice asked, slowly forming a hand seal as he spoke.

"Yeah," Naruto answered, crouching forward, his hands ready to draw upon his kunai.

The match begun suddenly as both contestant threw their choice of projectile weapons. Deflecting off Yoroi's shuriken with his other kunai, Naruto dodged as he discovered another wave of shuriken coming towards him.

Rolling on the ground, Naruto watched as Yoroi disappeared right before his eyes in an amazing speed, reappearing right beside him. Ducking to one side once more, Naruto managed to escape from Yoroi's downwards punch. Using his legs, Naruto quickly caught Yoroi's attacking arm within his own attack, pushing the older Genin onto the ground without much effort.

With his right hand close to Naruto's face, Yoroi tried to reach forward even when Naruto had locked his whole arm with his legs. Suddenly, Naruto felt it! Widening his eyes in shock, Naruto could feel his very strength slipping away. Looking down, he realised that Yoroi's hand was glowing slightly. **(#1)**

_"What jutsu is this?!"_

Losing his strength in his arms, Naruto lost the grip he had on Yoroi's arm. Shaking free from his captor's grasp, Yoroi gave Naruto a heavy blow in the chest with his fist before jumping up and giving him another punch to the face.

_"What was that? My body's strength suddenly…"_

Before he could recover, Yoroi drove forward, grabbing onto Naruto's face with his larger hand, pushing him onto the ground once more.

"You… my chakra…"

"So, you finally noticed."

Using this instant while Yoroi was distracted by their conversation, Naruto raised one leg and kicked Yoroi away from him. However, exhausted as he was right now, Naruto could barely stand up.

"You still have strength left…?" Yoroi asked, raising his right palm, once again glowing with chakra. "My jutsu allows me to suck out my opponent's physical and spiritual energy just by touching with my palm."

_"That was close, but if he touches me once more time, I'll be finished. He will probably try to make this a close contact fight… In that case!"_

Struggling to push himself up, Naruto eyed his opponent, who seemed to be amused on wondering what Naruto could achieve that might beat his chakra-absorbing jutsu. Biting on his right thumb, Naruto drew blood, and quickly performed the necessary correct hand seal.

"Come! I'll show you what I can do! Kuchiyose no Jutsu, Gama Heijin, Gama Hasaki!" Naruto shouted.

A huge puff of white smoke exploded between the two Genins, appearing from within the cloud, two slightly armoured toads appeared squatting on all four limbs. The larger toad has a huge sword on his back, while the smaller one was holding onto a long katana in his mouth. The larger of the two, Gama Heijin, was already easily thrice the size of Naruto, while the smaller one, Gama Hasaki, was just barely a head shorter than Yoroi.

"Impressive, to be able to summon two monsters with one single jutsu," Hayate commented silently to himself.

The larger of the two toads suddenly pushed himself upright with his forward limbs, standing wobbly on his two hind legs, one short hand reached to his back, drawing a huge board sabre almost as long as he was. The way Gama Heijin held his sword, it almost looked like he was using the sword like a plank dragging on the ground instead of as a blade.

Like the older toad, the younger toad, Gama Hasaki pushed himself upwards, though he stood in a more steady and professional stance, with his back straightened, Gama Hasaki almost looked like a human in a toad costume. Opening his jaws, he withdrew the blade from his mouth. Swinging the blade downwards, Gama Hasaki almost looked trained unlike his brother.

"Grrr," Yoroi mouthed, before suddenly smiling.

Surprised by Yoroi's confidence, Naruto almost took a step back. Suddenly Yoroi launched forward, throwing a few shuriken in the direction of Naruto. Gama Heijin swung his sword like a bat, shielding Naruto from the projectiles, just as Gama Hasaki dashed forward with his blade positioned before him.

Turning his blade around, Gama Hasaki hit Yoroi with the blunt edge of his sword in the stomach, before spinning in midair to kick Yoroi with both of his powerful hind legs. Joining in the fight, Gama Heijin leapt in, swinging his sword horizontally above his head, again using it as a bat.

"Hmph! You think this is enough to defeat me?! Beasts or men are no different to my jutsu!"

While dodging on Gama Hasaki's attack, Yoroi crouched on the floor before pushing himself upwards, spinning, he kicked the huge blade out of Gama Heijin hands, which flown upwards, penetrating and wedged itself tightly onto the ceiling. Turning one full round, Yoroi landed back onto his feet, and quickly grabbing onto Gama Heijin's huge round head with both hands humming to a soft blue hue.

Before anyone could anticipate what happened, Gama Heijin disappeared in a huge bang of smoke. Surprised, Gama Hasaki jumped backwards, joining Naruto.

"Heijin!" Naruto shouted.

"Brother is all right, he just lost his ability to sustain his physical form in the material world," Gama Heijin voiced in a funny accent with his mouth ajar, his lips barely moved.

"What?!"

"Yes, even summoned monsters use chakra to maintain their physical appearance in our world, don't you know that?" Yoroi said.

"To be able to suck out that much chakra from brother, this man is amazing," the toad said once more.

"Let's attack together, Hasaki!" Naruto shouted. "Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" Naruto whispered as he breathed in deeply, before exhaling out a huge ball of flame. Using his natural jumping ability, Gama Hasaki leapt over Yoroi, landing behind him.

Dodging from both Naruto's fireball and Gama Hasaki's attack was not easy, he tried to catch the remaining toad with his jutsu, but he turned out to be much faster and agile than his brother, the toad would constantly back-flipped away from danger before dashing forward to cut him, again only using the blunt edge of his blade.

_"Shit! That guy sucked out too much chakra, I barely have the strength to attack, if only I can summon the others out…"_

Suddenly feeling exhausted, Naruto staggered backwards, unaware that at that very moment, Yoroi made his move towards Naruto. Before he could react, Yoroi's right hand brushed by his own left hand, as pain and exhaustion found their way into his body again, Naruto suddenly fell backward, losing his strength to stand.

"Look out!" Gama Hasaki shouted, throwing his katana up in midair, he caught the sword again by its blade, and threw it like a spear. The curved blade missed its target, but Yoroi was distracted enough to miss Naruto, preventing him from sucking out Naruto's remaining energy. Cursing at the toad's action, Yoroi tried once more to grab Naruto, who by then was trying to escape.

Jumping in front of his master, Gama Hasaki grabbed onto both of Yoroi's wrists. Wrestling Yoroi with his strength, Gama Hasaki pushed Yoroi away from Naruto even as he felt chakra slipping away from his body. Yoroi stumbled a few feet back before he twisted his hands around, barely managing to touch the toad with the tips of his fingers. Gama Hasaki lasted less than a second before exploding into a puff of smoke. Temporary suffocated by smoke, Yoroi backed out coughing, waving his hand in front of his face.

Suddenly, Naruto burst through the cloud of smoke, his left hand clutching onto a metal pocket watch, while his right was stretched out towards Yoroi, apparently trying to grab onto him.

"That technique," the Hokage whispered softly to himself, almost bolting himself up from his seat. In front of him, Hayate tightened his grip on the hilt of his katana, watching to see whether if his interference was needed once more to save the life of the losing Genin.

The pocket watch ticked softly in Naruto's left hand, loud enough to be heard by the two Genins who were struggling with one another. Naruto had caught Yoroi's right shoulder, while Yoroi in turn had caught Naruto's forehead with his right hand and right wrist with his left hand.

_"Humph, this kid won't last a minute! What's this… his eyes… are glowing gold, and I'm feeling… rejuvenated! Stronger!"_

**x**

"It's that technique again!" Sakura gasped, covering her mouth with her hands.

"What is Naruto's doing?" Sasuke questioned Sakura, who seemed to recognise Naruto's jutsu.

**"He's going to die,"** a heavier voice continued.

"What?!" Sasuke asked, looking at Sakura in shocked.

**x**

Yoroi twisted Naruto's body around, so that he could have a better grip on the boy, but was surprised that he met no resistance, though Naruto's right hand changed position from his left shoulder to his right wrist.

"I feel… so energetic," Yoroi said, curious of what was happening. "It almost feels like… I'm a god…"

"You are drunk, Yoroi-san," Naruto whispered.

"Huh?"

"Drunk with chakra," Naruto said once more, his voice had no hint of exhaustion, and neither was he panting like he was just now during their battle.

Yoroi realised that Naruto was right, he did feel intoxicated, and not only that, the aches and bruises that he got while travelling in the Forest of Death were disappearing by themselves. The overflowing of chakra was healing his body!

"Yoroi-san, I'm providing you an unlimited supply of chakra." Lifting his left hand with ease, Naruto looked down at the watch. "_Almost a minute, I feel fine though, looks like she was wrong, I can go beyond. More. What am I saying? I'm being poisoned by my own ability, just like Yoroi! I have to stop soon."_

"What is happening?! I… feeling hot!" Parting his left hand from Naruto's body, Yoroi rubbed his own aching forehead. Looking down, Yoroi's eyes widened in surprise as the solid stone tiles beneath their feet were dissolving into fine golden sparks that swirled around Naruto's feet!

"Ever seen a balloon burst from having too much air pumped into it? You better let go now, Yoroi-san."

Yoroi immediately did as he was told, pushing Naruto away, Yoroi tumbled a few steps back, falling onto his backside. Naruto turned on the spot, watching Yoroi for a while before shutting the lip of the pocket watch and shoving it into his pocket. On the spot where he stood were tiles of uneven surfaces, as if corroded away by some strange power.

Letting go on the hilt, Hayate started coughing (out of habit), and announced the winner, "Winner, Naruto."

_"At least he didn't kill his opponent like his father did,"_ the Hokage sighed silently, shaking his head.

A medic came to check on Yoroi, who pushed the medic away, claiming that he was fine, and walked off by himself out of the arena. Watching Yoroi walking away, he could understand why he was so afraid, he himself was afraid of his own ability. Looking around the remaining Genins, he could see a few were obviously frightened, while most were generally puzzled or surprised by what happened.

"Are you all right," the medic turned to him and asked. Looking into the eyes of the medic, which resembled a pair of cold unfeeling orbs, Naruto shook his head, mumbling that he was tired. "You are wobbling, but you look like you are capable of walking, come follow me."

Naruto had not felt this good since the battle at the bridge, too good to be healthy, without taking another look behind him, Naruto walked out of the battlefield with the medic leading him.

**x**

"What happened…?" Temari asked, her hands were shaking, she could almost _feel_ Naruto's chakra presence. "It was so strong."

"He's strong," Gaara answered. "But certainly nowhere as powerful as _that person_."

"Who?"

Turning to look at Naruto leaving the arena, Gaara briefly turned his head up, watching Sakura appearing worrying about Naruto's condition.

**x**

"Is he all right, Sasuke-kun?!" Sakura asked upon seeing Naruto walking out, following the medic. Had it not been the fact that she had not have her match yet, she would certainly run after Naruto.

"Why are you asking me for?" Sasuke answered bluntly.

Actually, Sakura was hoping Sasuke would visit Naruto on her behalf, but to be honest, Sasuke did not look like a person who would visit anyone in hospital.

"Sakura, what was that he was using?" Sasuke asked all of the sudden.

Sighing, Sakura could not answer him, because she herself knew very little about Naruto's bloodline. "It's his bloodline ability… I don't really know much…"

"The next match's starting," Sasuke said, looking at the board, which was blinking and beeping again.

**x**

Naruto followed the medic blankly out of the arena, he needed time to think, and maybe lying down on some bed might help as well. Sighing, he suddenly thought about visiting Haku again.

_"Was Hakkotsu right? Will I need to use my power again? Even after I almost killed someone again? Had Yoroi-san not let go of me, his chakra-sucking ability would surely cause his own body to explode from the overflowing of chakra. It will probably take a few days for his body to release all those extra energy out, but he should be fine otherwise. I can't say the same about my body, even now, I can feel the excess chakra trying to burn out of my body..."_

Footsteps came from their left, without lifting his head, Naruto sensed that the medic in front of him halted.

"Ah, Kane-sensei, what are you doing here?" a nurse from a distance asked. Naruto looked up, seeing a nurse and two medics carrying a stretcher. "Aren't you supposed to be doing the rounds around the beds?"

"Thank you, Kane-sensei, we will take over from here," a medic said in a monotonous voice, putting the stretcher leaning against the wall, he and the other masked medic came forward.

Sighing, Tako placed both hands around the head, and gave it a little tug. Pulling Kane's head off his neck, he muttered a single word of power while the head was still detached from the body, "Boo!"

"ARGH!" the nurse screamed, fainting immediately, crashing against the stretcher.

"What the hell?!" the two other of the two spooked medics said, as they fell backward in shock.

Naruto backed off as well, pressing his back against the wall. Before any one of the two medics could get up, Tako pressed the head of the doctor back firmly onto his severed neck. Moving at an incredible speed, Tako moved from one medic to another, killing both within the same second.

Turning to look at Naruto, "Did I spook you, Naruto-kun?"

"What the hell are you?!" Naruto shouted, fear was clearly in his voice, yet his face showed the willingness to fight to protect himself.

Taking one step back, just so not to provoke Naruto any further. Standing in front of the corpses of the two medics, the 'doctor' bowed in a polite manner, as if greeting to someone great and important, saying, "My name is Tako, I am here to take you."

* * *

**- Glossary -**

**#1 :: Chakra Kyuuin no Jutsu** - Chakra Absorption.


	41. Team Gai, Part II

**Act 6: Congregation  
Chapter 41: Team Gai (II)  
**Updated on: 25 September, 2008

* * *

Shikamaru was daydreaming away when he suddenly looked up, prompting Chouji to look at him curiously, wondering if something was going on that he was not aware of.

"What's wrong, Shikamaru," Chouji asked eventually.

Sighing as he usually did, he stuffed his hands back into pants' pockets, replying lazily, "No, nothing, I just thought that something…"

Seeing Shikamaru appearing not willing to complete his sentence, Chouji turned his head in the direction at what Shikamaru was facing just now, beside the few Genins he was familiar with, the only one that stood out were the two remaining Sound-nins. The one that he recognised as 'Abumi Aoi' turned towards him, before quickly turning her head away.

Quickly turning her face away from Chouji, Aoi calmed herself down, mentally telling herself that there was no way Shikamaru or Chouji could have realised who she was. For a moment, she wondered what she would say to defend herself if she was ever discovered by anyone of them. Then it came onto her that the possibility of never being able to return home one day was certainly there.

Just as the girl was in deep thoughts over her future, a voice came into her head:

_"Kid."_

Aoi almost jumped, quickly recognising it as a jutsu that allowed the user to speak into the mind. She was just about to turn to look at Kinuta Kyoko when the voice came again:

_"Do not tell Kyoko of anything of what I am going to tell you, and just do as you are told. Excuse yourself and exit the hall, the target and myself are now located in the medical ward, make your way there, and find us."_

Aoi cleared her throat softly, trying to find her voice, knowing that if Kyoko was to look at her nervous expression right now, she would certainly suspect something. Though Aoi did not understand why Tako wished to hide the news from her, she was in no position to question his authority.

Turning around with her emotions and expressions wiped off her face, she confronted the equally calm Kyoko. Two eyeballs from beneath the wrapping of the bandages turned to look at her, expecting something.

"Kyoko-san, I better go check Tsuchi-chan, she's going to whine on non-stop if we don't at least show some concern."

"Do as you please," Kyoko answered.

Walking away from the observing platform, Aoi quickly exited the arena.

Kyoko watched Aoi walked off, sensing another pair of eyes on Aoi, she turned to look at Shikamaru, who in turn, looked back at her when he noticed her glace on him. Unlike others who would quickly divert their glace away from her, Shikamaru was openly declaring his presence towards her, as if knowing that he might have to fight her to protect someone.

Laughing silently to herself, Kyoko reverted her attention towards the arena below them. "_Another day maybe, boy, I have no interest in that girl called Ino. She is the one you are looking for, am I correct?"_

**x**

"One, two, three, four…," Lee counted from one end of the hall to the other. "Curious, isn't it?" he asked a second later, turning his head to look at his companions. "That none of us have yet to gone down there."

"That's good, isn't it? Well, at least for you," Tenten commented. Neji lifted his head, and looked at the two of them, understanding what Tenten was hinting.

"What do you mean?" Lee asked

"Ahh, don't bother hiding it from us, we know you are probably the only one around here who wishes to fight Neji-kun," Tenten replied.

"Of course! To do so is my only-"

"Well, too bad for you, Lee, your name's up there already," Tenten teased, pointing at the board.

Neji chuckled softly, though not sure whether he was laughing at the cruel fate placed before them, or Lee's lousy luck.

"No matter! After this 'Misumi' fellow, we will meet again at the semi-final, Neji-kun!" Lee announced before leaping down from where they stood.

Leaning over, Tenten waved and shouted Lee's name. Expecting some sort of encourage from his teammate, Lee looked up and smiled.

"Lee, take your time, no need to rush," Tenten shouted down.

"Huh? What?" Lee asked back, puzzled.

Retreating back to her spot next to Neji, the boy looked at her with an equally surprised look. "What was that for?" he asked eventually.

"Oh, there's no need to rush you see," Tenten said initially, taking one step right, closer to Neji. "The two of us need as much mental preparation as possible to ready ourselves," Tenten added as she took another step right, while also wrapping her arms around Neji's left arm.

_"Hohoho, now I'm all alone with Neji-kun!"_

"Tenten, are you feeling okay? You're blushing (and smirking)," Neji asked realising that the two of them were standing awfully close.

"I'm feeling tired, don't worry, I will be fine, I just need… to rest for a moment," Tenten lied, immediately resting her head against Neji's shoulder, embracing his arm with her body, savouring the warmth from his body.

"Okay…," Neji answered, not knowing what to say, he understood that Tenten could be daring at times, especially when left alone… with him. Facing the other way, Neji did not want to show Tenten his blushing cheeks.

_"At least Hinata-sama is not here."_

**x**

"Misumi-san, good luck," Rock Lee said out in a gentlemanly manner, standing ready in his usual stance, one hand and leg out in front before the other.

"Same to you," Tsurugu Misumi thought for a second before answering, unfamiliar with the courtesy as showed by Lee.

When Gekkou Hayate declared starting of the match, Lee immediately made his move towards Misumi without wasting any time. Dashing left and right, slipping in and out of Misumi's line of sight. Annoyed at the moves displayed by the younger Leaf-nin, he spun around and punched the air, narrowly missing Lee.

Lee bounced backwards a few steps, surprised that the older Genin managed to catch onto his speed, and was able to predict his movement.

"I, Tsurugu Misumi, am not as weak as the other two," he said, pushing the thin frame of his glasses further up the bridge of his nose. "I learned enough from Kabuto that your-"

A fist came right in, cutting in between the sentence, punching Misumi right in the face. The older Genin passed out with his glasses shattered, but otherwise appeared to be fine.

"Oh sorry! I wasn't paying attention! Are you all right?!" Lee shouted.

**x**

When Lee rejoined his teammates, Tenten was coughing softly to herself while rearranging the collar of her shirt. Neji, on the other hand, appeared to be in a state of shock, standing stiffly with his hands hanging limply by the sides.

"That was fast, Lee," Tenten grumbled, who was now tying her hair back together into two small buns. "Too fast," Tenten grumbled.

While waiting for the next match to begin, the three of them stood around like strangers, two feet apart from one another, though Tenten seemed to be ignoring Lee on purpose.

"What did I do this time?" Lee muttered, shifting his feet around uneasily to the atmosphere around him, Neji had not woke up yet apparently. Looking up at the board, Lee nudged Neji once with his elbow, "Neji-kun, it's your turn."

**x**

_Meanwhile…_

"Hyuu-ga-Ne-ji?!" Chouji stuttered loudly, though not really remembering who Neji was, he certainly knew enough about Hyuuga. If the sweet Hinata could turn out like what he saw just now, he certainly did not want to know what Neji could do.

"Don't worry, Chouji, you can do this, after we are done, we will visit Haku-chan together," Shikamaru said, trying to cheer his pal up.

"More like visiting me and Haku-chan," Chouji replied while opening up his last bag of chips. "I need more energy…"

"Hey look, Chouji, from this angle, does it look like the Neji-dude is drooling or something."

Looking carefully, Chouji nodded.

"Hey, is something wrong with him? His hair is a mess, and his forehead protector is sliding to one side," Shikamaru commented curiously. "He doesn't really look as scary as you imagine, in any case, looks like we are in luck, he's will be an easy target for you. You can do this, Chouji!"

**x**

_A minute later…_

Neji straightened his appearance up before heading for the stairs, he now looked slightly more presentable. Maito Gai, who was watching by one side, was beginning to wonder what was wrong with him.

"Umm, well then, match eight, begin!" Hayate repeated like a recorded message.

"Arrr!" Chouji shouted, knowing that to beat Neji, he would have to do it fast before he could get the chance to do whatever he needed to do to beat him. "Baika no Jutsu **(#1)**," Chouji shouted once more, with that, his body instantly blew up to a few times larger than before, mumbling his next jutsu, Chouji screamed, "Nikudan Sensha **(#2)**!"

Baika no Jutsu, otherwise known as the Multi-size Technique, it is a special technique passed down in the Akamichi clan. It allows you to increase the size of one part or even your entire body for a short period of time. But it uses up a high amount of calories, recently, the Akamichi clan had help the Konohagakure Beauty Slim Centre in researching ways of burning fats without having to blow up the body, the perfect way to obtain the ultimate slim and beautiful body! Call your local toll-free helpline for more info.

The human meat-tank launched at an astonishing speed, despite his weight and build, when he obtained the necessary momentum, the cannonball made out of pure muscle and fat could go as fast as he desired. Without time to hesitate, Neji dodged to one side, surprised at the ferocious advance brought by Chouji.

Chouji sped past Neji, when he came upon the wall, the spinning meat-tank somehow managed to get himself airborne, bouncing off the wall instead of crushing into it. Bouncing right off the wall, Chouji flew towards Neji in an arc-like path, aiming to land on top of Neji.

"Fool, you should have know by now, that the Hyuuga's Kaiten is absolute when it comes to defending!" Neji shouted as he prepared for his Heavenly Spin. Much like Hinata's Spin, he started off quick, spinning around on the spot like a top, and at the same time, releasing chakra from his body, creating a cushion of chakra that could bounce off anything, from Tsuuga to Akimichi meatball.

However, the Spin did not turn out as well as he expected, could it be that Chouji had landed right on top of him, and with all that weight pressing downwards, the circular motion brought by Neji could not affect it? _"No matter_," Neji thought, as he discharged even more chakra. The extra boost of chakra caused Chouji to spin out of his spot, and was immediately shoved to one side by Neji's Spin.

"Arrrgh!" Chouji yelled, as his jutsu came unravelled by the Spin, returning back into his natural form, he crushed face-first against the wall.

"And now to finish this match!" Neji shouted, jumping from his spot, he landed within finishing range with Chouji.

However, unexpectedly, Chouji fell backwards onto the floor, leaving a huge crack in the impression of Chouji's round body on the wall. Seeing his opponent unconscious, Neji halted his attack while enclosing his right palm, and deactivated his Byakugan.

**x**

Chouji rejoined Shikamaru up at the observing platform (dazed, but pretty okay, he needed assistance in walking straight), just as Neji joined Lee and Tenten at their position.

"Good job, Neji-kun," Lee said.

"You rock!" Tenten smiled.

"Now, that left just the four of you," Neji said as he passed by Lee, walking up to Tenten. Looking at the girl, he saw no fear or worries at all.

"Four of us girls are left, imagine that," Tenten said with a confident smile.

**x**

_Meanwhile, somewhere else…_

Jiraiya walked calmly into the room, all around, Jounins and Chuunins continued their work, the Hokage's office was huge to begin with, but with so many people crowded in one room, it seemed so small. However, it could not be helped, all the Jounins and Chuunins here were to help out in the investigation of the theft of a single item from this room.

On one wall of the room, a picture frame was removed, and there on the wall was an empty safe with the door left ajar. Half an hour ago, the Forbidden Scroll of the Leaf was discovered to be stolen. **(#3)**

**x**

_Back in Practice Area 44…_

The electronic board lit up once more, blinking and beeping, up in its electronic brain, it was choosing 'randomly' upon the names of the four remaining girls.

Tenten's emotion was a mixed bag, she was confident of her skills, yet she had never fought with any one of the three before, much less even know them before today. Looking at Neji and Lee, both of them had their fights made easy for them, she wondered if she could get some serious opponent.

When her turn to fight was finally so close at hand, all of Sakura's worries suddenly surfaced, just as her inner self disappeared once more, without her other self, Sakura realised that she was afraid. Sasuke walked up behind her, and placed one hand on her shoulder, smiling at the boy, Sakura calmed down a little, knowing that there was at least Sasuke who would support her.

Kyoko was that glad that she was alone, she did not want anyone to see how excited she was right now. Her fists clutched tightly, Kyoko could not wait any further, she felt like exploding right on the spot.

Temari was just glad that she saw her name on the electronic board, she needed to let off some steam after what happened to Kankurou, not to mention that the plan they were briefed on got screwed up. In addition, because Gaara could not fight Sakura, as intended, he had been fuming and brooding ever since, the sooner she was off the same platform the better.

"Guess it's me," Tenten said, seeing her own name being displayed along with 'Temari', curious enough, no surname was displayed for her opponent. _"For some reason Sand-nins don't have family names_,_"_ Tenten reasoned.

"The ninth match, Temari versus Tenten, come forward…," Hayate said, prompting the two girls to walk up closer to one another. Temari eyed Tenten with her uncaring style, as if seeing Tenten as someone not worth fighting for.

"The final member from Team Sand, if she's anyway as powerful as that Gaara, it could be interesting…," Neji said amid the cheering from Lee, yelling all sorts of encouragement.

"Begin!" Hayate coughed as he jumped back a few steps, allowing the two girls more space for their battle.

The girls started off immediately without saying a word between them, dodging from Tenten's ranged projectiles, Temari quickly swung the huge fan from her back to the front, opening it to reveal a fan that could easily cover her whole body. Lifting the fan with ease, she brought it down in one single swing, blowing all the kunai away from her.

Mentally cursing at realising that the two of them would be getting nowhere if this continued, Tenten took out two scrolls behind her back, using her thumbs to peel off the edges of both scrolls. "Soushouryu! **(#4)**"

A huge bang could be heard just as from the point of origin from where the explosion came thousands of knives and throwing stars flying towards Temari.

The smirk on Temari's face quickly disappeared, replacing it was a look of surprise, seeing two loads of Soushouryu coming her way, swinging her fan with one hand, Temari lifted the fan over her left shoulder, before cutting it across to the right. The result being another strong gust of wind, it blew away quite a few of the weapons, but a few hit her body. The remaining weapons were scattered in different directions from Temari's wind.

"Look out!" Gai shouted, dashing back and forth, catching all the stray knives and stars that were heading towards the judges and audiences. Neji ducked, just as Lee jumped over to Sakura's side, and pulled both the girl and Sasuke onto the floor. Gaara's sand **(#5)** naturally protected him from all harms, and Kyoko just brushed the sharp objects aside as if they were paper planes.

"Isn't that a bit reckless?" Sakura murmured, rubbing her bruised elbow just as Sasuke grumpily got up, getting pushed to the floor by another boy was not in his list of favourite activities.

Neji who slowly but steadily rose up onto his feet, had only the following to say, "Just be careful, there's a lot more from where they came from."

Peeking over, Sakura watched as Temari panting heavily down below, her fan was folded and resting on her shoulder, she seemed to have used a lot of energy on defending herself. Landing back on her feet, Tenten without a word opened the second scroll, this time pointing it directly at Temari. Her eyes widening in surprise, Temari quickly opened her fan once more, making it stand on the tip of one end of the fan. Jumping a step back, and quickly hiding behind the fan, just as the second volley of steel headed towards her.

Expecting the fan to break, and revealing blood behind it, Tenten was surprised to find the fan fell backwards with a soft thump of the wooden frame meeting the solid ground. Temari had disappeared! **(#6)**

A pair of hands reached out from behind her, one hand grabbed Tenten's right hand, while the other arm came around of Tenten's neck, strangling her from behind. Immediately taking out another kunai with her remaining left hand, Tenten sought to stab the attacker. Removing her hands away from Tenten's neck, Temari spun the smaller girl around, before punching her to the face.

Just as Tenten fell several feet backwards from that blow, suddenly, she detected a strong change in the air movement behind her. Without having to turn around, Tenten sensed the fan was moving rapidly towards her, spinning furiously, threatening to cut her down.

Rolling to one side, the fan narrowly missed her, and instead landed itself back into the hands of its owner. Opening it, Temari smiled with her eyes closed, the appearance of fatigue from just now had disappeared, was she playing with her?

"Chakra string?" Tenten whispered to herself, suddenly remember that the boy from Sand, that puppeteer was adept at using chakra string to control his doll, there was no reason why this girl could not.

Walking in large strides, Temari slowly folded the fan one section at a time, before suddenly leaping forward, using it to hit the ground. Tenten jumped away from the other girl, but soon noticed what Temari was trying to do. With her hit against the concrete floor, the miscellaneous steel daggers she created from her jutsu that was previously just lying about on the floor were now bounced a few feet up in midair. Opening her fan, Temari brought fan down, causing all the weapons to fly towards Tenten.

"Tenten-san!" Sakura shouted, turning to see Neji and Lee, she was surprised to find neither of them appearing to be worrying about their companion.

"It seems that for her to win, she will have to use that new move," Neji answered calmly.

"What… new move?" Sakura asked, her eyes darting back and forth from Neji to Tenten, wondering what he meant by that.

Down below them, instead of dodging the kunai and shuriken flying towards her, Tenten instead brought both her palms together, forming seals rapidly before announcing her latest ability: "Jishakukei **(#7)**!"

Her right hand glowing in a soft light of silver, pulled out yet another kunai from the pouch hanging on her waist, holding it firmly in hand, she quickly held it out between herself, and the incoming steels sent flying by Temari. Unexpectedly, all of the flying kunai and shuriken suddenly changed their path, homing onto the kunai being held by Tenten. As if attracted by an invisible force, all the metallic weapons formed together into a chain of steel made of kunai and shuriken, sweeping the chain around her, Tenten attracted the remaining miscellaneous lying on the ground, making her steel whip longer. The final length of the whip was over twenty feet, with the sharp edges of kunai and shuriken pointing outwards.

Spinning the whip above the head, Tenten sought for the right speed and momentum before attacking Temari. When she finally brought her new whip down, Temari instantly jumped backwards while extending the full length of her fan. Even the strong wind from her fan could not falter the advancement of the whip as it shot forward like a venomous snake. Breaking through the strong wind current, the whip slashed the sides of the Sand-nin.

Biting down the pain, Temari realised that her normal wind attack could not stop Tenten's whip, which was too heavy for her wind to destroy. Summoning chakra, Temari countered with her Kamaitachi no Jutsu **(#8)**.

The Slashing Wind of Kamaitachi no Jutsu met the iron whip of the Jishakukei and the strong wind destroyed the link bonding between the kunai and shuriken, causing the whip attack to fail as the wind came closer and closer to Tenten.

A second explosion composing of steel and iron occurred, raining shattered kunai and shuriken over the contestants and audience.

"What?!" Tenten shouted in disbelief, as Temari sheltered herself with the fan, which proved indestructible even under the shower of broken steel. Ignoring the pain from the various cuts, Tenten was determined to win.

"Ningyoushibai no Koutetsu **(#9)**!" Tenten shouted, glowing threads of chakra came forth from the tips of her fingers, linking themselves with the weapons littered on the ground.

"Not giving up?" Temari teased. "Fine, I will give you the grand finale you deserved! Kamaitachi no Jutsu!" Temari summoned another Slashing Wind one last time. Cutting across Tenten's hurricane of weapons, shattering what were left, the spectre wind prepared to cut down Tenten.

"Kunai no Nankan **(#10)**!" Tenten pulled out her final supply of kunai, and released them in midair, she then conjoined them together by a magnetic force, forming a three-foot long round shield.

"Arrrgh!" Tenten screamed, despite her shield was strong enough to block most of the damage, it was simply too small to be of any use. Pushed backwards, she crashed onto the wall behind her, raising clouds of dust.

"Temari wins!" Hayate hastily announced, just as Gai immediately leapt off from his spot, arriving at the point of impact

"Tenten!" Lee shouted, while Neji grinded his teeth, looking worryingly, waiting impatiently for Tenten to emerge from the dust as he hoped. The two teens let out sighs of relief as coughing from the girl was heard, just as expected, Tenten stumbled warily out of the rumbles.

"You did great!" Gai said in his usual pose.

At the other end of the arena, Temari felt like she lost somehow, the girl turned out quite okay. Cursing silently, she rejoined Gaara's side, just as Lee leapt over to help her. Insisting that she was fine, Tenten climbed the stairs to rejoin Neji.

Shikamaru was relief as well, though he did not know Tenten well, he certainly did not like the idea of a Sand-nin killing anyone from his village. Leaving the arena as promised with Chouji, the two of them walked in the direction towards the infirmary, neither of them were good with direction, but somehow they stumbled their way into the clinic area of the tower. Expecting nurses or doctor, the two of them were curious to find no one, no nurse behind the counter, no doctor operating the equipment.

"Hey, Shikamaru, this places gives me the creep, it's like we are in Silent Hill or something," Chouji said as he slowed down.

True, Shikamaru found it remarkable that they could make such an important facility in the tower unmanned.

The two of them passed by various rooms, but could not find the room where Haku was. Opening the various room showed an equally quiet atmosphere, as if all lives had been robbed from the location.

Then, they found the unconscious Misumi, the poor Genin was left dumped on a bed, it seemed to Shikamaru that no attempts had been made to try to cure him, or even make him comfortable. Not to mention, the room that the bed was in was in fact a storeroom.

"Something's wrong, Chouji, can you make your way back?"

"Huh? Why? I can, but… why?" Chouji asked.

"Tell someone about this, something's is just wrong with this picture. I'm going to check if Haku is all right here."

"But…"

"Don't worry, I will be fine, I promised I will join you again if Haku is okay."

Chouji unwillingly traced back his footsteps, exiting from where he entered, while Shikamaru walked on, thoughts of this place being haunted dawned on him. Banishing superstitious away, Shikamaru explored the place a bit more.

When he came upon another few sets of rooms, he peeked into one of the room through a slightly opened door. It was then, that he saw a girl peeling off the fake skin provided by Orochimaru off her face.

_"Ino?"_

* * *

**- Glossary -**

**#1 :: Baika no Jutsu** – Multi Size Technique.**  
#2 :: Nikudan Sensha** – Meat Tank.  
**#3 :: Forbidden Scroll of the Leaf** – Remember when Tako first appeared in chapter 39? He carried a huge red scroll on his back.  
**#4 :: Soushouryu** – The simplified version of the Bouseki Soushouryu used in chapter 33.  
**#5 :: Suna no Tate** – Shield of the Sand, Gaara's first defence.  
**#6 :: Fan Disappearing Act** – Using the fan to hide her body while the user teleports to the other end, usually behind the enemy.  
**#7 :: Jishakukei** – Magnetic Whip, using chakra to create a magnetic force to gather Tenten's weapons together.  
**#8 :: Kamaitachi no Jutsu** – Slashing Wind Technique, a very strong and power wind attack.  
**#9 :: Ningyoushibai no Koutetsu** – Steel Puppet Show, using chakra to swirl the litters of weapons around the target.  
**#10 :: Kunai** **no Nankan** – Barrier of Knives, using magnetic force to make the kunai protect the user.


	42. Uzumaki Kimiko, Part II

Previously: Entering the second part of the exam, Sasuke discovered that Ino was among the ranks of the enemies, while the inflirated Akatsuki members continued their plan despite some minor miscalculation.

**Interlude: Uzumaki Kimiko (II)  
**Updated on: 21 Janurary, 2012

* * *

_Twelve years ago…_

Where am I? This place... Ahh… I see, I remember now.

How ironic for me to die here, this is after all the very same place where she died as well. A mere thirteen days since she died, I too will follow her at this very same spot. Somehow, I'm gladed, at least… she won't be alone.

I am unable to open one of my eyes, I have no doubt about what happened to it, and my other eye is already filled with blood from a wound above it. Blood fills what vision my remaining eye can provide as I watch Orochimaru stands before me, a sad look of triumph on his face. His new allies stand behind him, people who masterminded all these. I have lost… **(A/N: Chapter 32)**

I can neither move nor hear anything, that bastard Orochimaru is saying something, something I care not to hear anyway. A weird sensation of calmness flows through me as I close my eye briefly to rest, people say that life flashes by when you die… is this it…?

On the twelfth day of the sixth month, I was born to world as the daughter of Raikage the Third. It was on this day that our village and _his_ village signed a treaty, and to reinforce the idea of peace, the two of us were engaged to be married.

Sixteen years and two days later, I arrived at the shore of Fire Country, he was to receive me as his guest, and eventually his bride. For the past sixteen years, I had grown to hate that day, the day I was to leave my father's side, and to be forced to live a life among the enemies. However, instead of meeting him for the first time, there she was in his place. I did not know who she was, and neither did I bother to ask. The girl was Haruno Hana, she explained to me that he was delayed due to an urgent matter, and that she would accompany me until his arrival. I could sense then that I was not welcomed, though this was masked very skilfully. We said little as we waited under the shade of a tree, standing on opposing sides. I turned around to observe her, there is no doubt that I am prettier than she was, but I can remember how I admired the healthy glow on her cheeks, the cute tint of pink from her hair, and the shapely figure, all of which bear in contrast against mine. In no time, he arrived to greet me, and though he faced me as he smiled warmly, his eyes were on her.

"Ahh, you shouldn't have run off like that!"

"Please forgive me!"

I felt like I was the villain of the story, the intruder of their little private life. Would anyone give a thought about how I feel?

"Just how strong are you?" I asked him dryly one day.

It had been a week since I arrived at Konohagakure, and since then, he had already proved to me that he was a totally different man compared to the one I envisioned in my mind. Not that back then I had already fallen for him, but I had already told myself that I would submit to no one weaker than I am. There is a reason why my father had agreed with my marriage with a Hizashi, though none but one survived the Great Shinobi War, my father had personally witnessed their terrifying power. That was why, among the conditions of the arranged marriage is that although I moved to Konohagakure for the time being, once we were married, we had to move to Kumogakure, thus monopolising the Hizashi bloodline. Even though I know my father loves me dearly, it isn't hard to be compared as a mere tool for my father.

"How strong am I?" the man known as Hizashi Arashi questioned. "Not that good I supposed."

I proposed to him a friendly duel, citing that as warriors, we would know one another better once we exchanged blows and techniques. He reluctantly agreed. I then asked him not to show leniency in his techniques out of respect for me, and once again, he agreed with a bit of hesitation.

At my new lodging's backyard, the two of us stood at different ends of the spacious garden, a pity that it would be ruined, but I was too thrilled for the coming battle to care. True to his words, he readied himself as his aura changed to one comparable to a monster. He had yet to activate his bloodline ability, but I sure as hell was planning to force him into using it against me, to see if he was indeed as frightening as my seniors had said his bloodline is.

For the first few moves, we exchanged usual kunai and shuriken, it was after he ran out of shuriken that he increased his speed, like a golden flash he encircled me before moving in for a finishing strike. I smiled as I displayed my true speed, and grinned further as I saw his eyes widened with surprised as he missed me. I spun around for a counter attack, only to find him gone once more, I wasn't amused to find him flipping over me, once more trying to end it quick with a threatening move from the back.

I have known a few elemental techniques, but lightning-based techniques are my specialities. I charged up the air around me, instantly creating a static barrier, causing him to bounce off from the top rather painfully. He landed gracefully on all fours behind me, and sprint up to me in an instant. He was so fast that I could barely turn around, yet I could feel the immense chakra energy emitted from his body, he had activated his bloodline ability, and there was no time to lose. I quickly used my most powerful lightning attack on him, but he ignored the pain, and dashed through the lightning storm.

His right hand on my throat, my last remaining kunai on his chest, and I could feel it melting away, dissolved by faint golden glow given off from his body.

"It's a draw," he offered, and I hastily accepted, though there was no doubt in my mind who would have lost had he not went easy on me.

I can't remember when I started to view Hana as my rival, in the beginning, I didn't care, and she wasn't worth my effort, but as time went by, I found myself drawn towards Arashi, and the sight of Hana was starting to be too hard to endure. As my affection towards Arashi was beginning to be more apparent, the more upset I caused everyone to be.

Back then, I often treated Hana badly, said bad things in front of her and told her that I hate her. Often, I thought that maybe I had overdid it, at times, she appeared upset with what I said, in some instants we argued, sometimes she just treated anything bad I said as a joke, but she was never really about me, yet I continued to put up an aggressive attitude towards her, just because I don't want her to take Arashi from me. I am selfish and thoughtless, that's how I always am.

In the beginning, the two of them had believed that like them, I too want to break up the marriage, but now Arashi was left dangling between two choices. Despite not being her fault, Hana felt even guiltier, and tried to create instances for us where we might know each other better. However, knowing what she was trying to do only make us more at odds at one another.

One cool early morning, he came over to my room and tried to wake me up for a mission, which Sarutobi had said was important for him to be there. Arashi wanted to ask if I wanted to go along with him, I was too dead tired then, so I kicked him out of my room… **(A/N: Chapter 13)**

The next day, I found myself alone, I couldn't find either of the two, the event of Arashi asking me out for the 'important mission' had already slipped my mind. The next few days I found the two of them constantly distancing away from me. I told myself I shouldn't be a nuisance between their private business, but curiosity and jealousy drove me into a frenzy to find where they were.

Despite saying something about having a fair fight, being a possessive and jealous little bitch I am, I secretly followed them on the seventh day, and found the two of them camping out in secret location. **(A/N: Chapter 32)**

When they detected my presence, Arashi instantly rebuked me for my actions, telling me it was dangerous for me to sneak up on _him_. Though Hana said in the end with a smile, "And I was wondering when you are going to find us, Kimiko-chan."

In the end, they allowed me to join them in their little stakeout, we eventually found the culprit to be Uchiha Massaki, which turned out to be a shock for us as he was one of the few Uchihas who were involved in helping us solve the case. Though our battle against him resulted in a triumph for us, it was not the end of the whole Uchiha Secret incident, but it was soon the end of our friendship.

A few months later, Hana dragged me out from the city, I was pretending to be annoyed with her, but deep down inside me, I truly enjoyed her company, she had became the closest friend I had in the village. I was surprised with what she proposed, to fight a duel with her, the loser would back off from the situation.

"Hana, what are you saying? You know you can't beat me…"

Indeed, no matter how skilled she was, the three of us knew who was the weakest among us. Yet why did she suggest a fight between the two of us? It was fight she would lose for certain. Not willing to hear any explanation from me, she charged at me with all she had in her, using blows after blows of her deadliest techniques.

Being a prideful person I am, I subconsciously fought with all I had as well, reflecting each of her blows with ease, and eventually cornering her with lightning technique. As she slumped onto the grassy soil with a painful expression, she quickly broke into a smile.

"I will not accept this as your answer, Hana! It must be a fair fight between us!" I shouted at the top of my voice before breaking into a run back into the village.

That night, as I was loitering around streets doing nothing, thinking back to what I had said, I worried that Hana would try something silly that would indeed force me to kill her by accident. I was so deep in thoughts that I literally jumped when someone tapped me on my shoulder.

"Kimiko, where were you the whole day?"

"I can say the same for you yesterday," I blankly told him with my eyebrows lowered and drawn. "You were gone the whole day! Neither of us could find you! What would we do if Hokage want to give us a mission?!"

"Whoa whoa, calm down," Arashi nervously smiled. I then noticed one of his hands was behind his back, seemingly holding onto something. "You need to cool your temper, I ordered something from a travelling merchant who just came from the western continent, he had it in stock but I need to go with him if I can get it as soon as possible since his stock of it was running low. I found it neat and cool, so I got it for you!" He then brought out his hand from behind his back, on it was a silver pocket watch with a chain of it, the beautiful design on it seems very foreign, and even till today, I have no idea what it is the design, but regardless, I like it a lot.

"Thank you…"

"Like it? I chose a watch because you are always later and oversleep-"

Angry, I raised my hand to try throwing the pocket watch at him, but instead I stomped my foot instantly, and stormed off in the other direction, with the watch that I treasure a lot in my hand.

However, unknown to both of us then, that day, Hana disappeared from our lives. Her brother was the first to notice her absence, and I was his prime suspect. We didn't know why, no… the two grown men didn't understand why she left, but it was clear in my mind, she left for us.

Only just two months ago, she returned by then, Arashi and I had already married, and soon after her reappearance, here in the outskirt of the village, the three of us engaged in a battle against enemies we never knew before, their strength unmeasurable, even Arashi himself was caught surprised. While he battled the man who holds within him the exact opposite of Arashi's power, the two of us were busy with fighting against the changeling and the witch.

To counter his enemy's special technique, Arashi had been actively using his bloodline, both Hana and myself knew what might happen if this continued. And indeed our worst fear came true, no longer able to control himself, Arashi berserk in front of all of us. Unable to handle the raging Arashi, the three of them fled the scene.

However, it was not over, the berserker could not stop, no longer able to recognise us as allies, he attacked us instead. Even worse, the both of us feared that his self-destructive bloodline ability might consume him sooner than he could kill us. Faced with an uneasy solution, the two of us retaliated, planning to knock him unconscious, hopping that by doing so his bloodline ability might deactivate by itself.

"We can do this, together we can," she told me as my hands shook upon seeing how terrifying he was becoming. "No time to lose, Kimiko, it's now or never!"

With my lightning techniques, and her wind techniques, we could only think of one way to stop Arashi without harming him. He quickly positioned ourselves on opposite ends of Arashi, and released our most powerful techniques at the same time.

"Butou Kairai!"  
"Chouryuu Shindou!" **(#1)**

Her Chouryuu Shindou and my Nanka Kishi crashed, causing a living storm of spinning tornado with wind and lightning. At this point of time, physical attacks were nullified by his Kyuushuuryoku's ability to dissolve solid matter, and in his current mental state, elemental attacks would be pointless, but there was one hope between us, and that was for my lightning to stun and hold him down while her wind to draw away the oxygen, allowing him to fall unconscious while unharmed.

As he closed his eyes, I gave a loud sigh of relief as I fell to my knees, I looked upon Hana at a different point of light now, how she could remain so calm at such a dreadful situation, and without hesitation even if running the risk of killing someone you love.

"Kimiko, look out!"

Arashi broke out of the thunder storm we created and spun towards me with one hand outstretched towards me. I couldn't move, mesmerised by fear. There was no blood from her body as Hana jumped in front of me selflessly, instead golden sparks emerged at the open wound on her chest.

At that point, Arashi at long last released his hold on his bloodline ability, and looked down at the hollowed chest he carved with his own hand. I ran towards them as Arashi removed his hand from within her torso and embraced her body.

**(A/N: Chapter 12)** "Promise me that you will never use it again," Hana said as her breath was getting heavier by the second, and her words were getting harder to come out. She forced the body of her lover closer to her breasts, letting herself to be drowned in every scent of his.

Arashi looked up, his face wet with tears, his cheek smeared with her blood. "I promise, just don't die!"

His words did not reach her, as her hands fell limp by the side. Holding her closer than ever, the Arashi wept for what he had done.

I walked up behind them, taking a step at a time, I hesitantly placed my hand on his shoulder, trying to console him, but instead I fell to her knees and wrapped my arms around them. The both of us wept for the lost of our closest friend.

I could not believe she died, how could she? She was her rival, we promised to fight for him together… How could she leave us just like that?

Now… I can join her at last… But I afraid we have to leave our children with you, Arashi… My Naruto, and Hana's Sakura, please take care of them for us… I'm sorry, Arashi, Naruto… Hana…

* * *

**- Glossary -**

**#1 :: Nanka Kishi & Chouryuu Shindou**– Dancing Dolls (lightning) and Tidal Shock (physical/wind).


	43. Kinuta Kyoko, Part III

**Act 7: Howls of the Beasts  
Chapter 43: Kinuta Kyoto (III)  
**Updated on: 21 August, 2008

* * *

Unlike Orochimaru, who had his strange ability to wear human skin, Jingi Kagetsu could not put on a fake mask like what Orochimaru did, or wear a new head like what Tako did, that was why, she had no choice but to pretend to be a Sound-nin. Donning a grey spotted uniform with a grey scarf, Kagetsu slipped into Konohagakure without any trouble.

She was provided with two 'students' to keep up the act, one she quickly recognised as Orochimaru's prized student, Kinuta Kyoko, the other was relatively unknown to her. Adding to the pair, was Kagetsu's own student, Yamanaka Ino, who took up the name Abumi Aoi upon the lost of her memories.

The final match was about to begin, and Kagetsu did not like it one bit, everything was screwed up, the matches Akatsuki decided on did not play out as expected. Someone tempered with the 'fixed' machine they had earlier implanted behind the electronic board, and now the matches they wanted were played out in the worst possible combinations she could think of.

Originally, Ino was to fight against Naruto, but fortunately, Naruto was weakened enough by Orochimaru's other student, Akado Yoroi, to be captured by Tako. According to her friend, Tako had already summoned Ino to perform the capturing on Naruto, and was already on her way there.

In addition, Gaara of the Sand was supposed to fight against Sakura, to weaken her enough for them to capture her like Naruto, but Gaara's ability was wasted on a girl called Haku, while now, Sakura's opponent would be Kyoko. That was what worried her, she knew she had berserk once or twice before, she just hope she would not kill Sakura, they needed her alive.

**x**

"Ino…?" Shikamaru asked with uncertainty, his voice trembling as his eyes blinked rapidly with doubt. Standing behind the door, Shikamaru appeared shocked.

Panicking, Ino dropped her helmet, with her mask removed, Ino appeared as the girl she originally was.

"What are you doing here?" Shikamaru asked, immediately recognising the uniform she was in. "You are that Aoi girl, aren't you?" Shikamaru asked again, heightened emotions highlighted in his voice, with hints of surprise yet joy.

"Go away, you don't have to see this," Ino answered while backing up, eventually pressing her back against the wall.

"What is the meaning of this?" Shikamaru asked with a raised voice, stepping into the room, he turned and looked, and was equally surprised to find Naruto lying on the bed. "What is going on…?"

"Kill him," Tako interrupted immediately, cutting Shikamaru's remark in the middle as he walked up to Shikamaru from behind without being noticed, still in the guise of the doctor called Kane.

Spinning around, Shikamaru almost had a heart attack. "Who the-?!"

"Kill him," Tako repeated.

"No!" Ino shouted.

"Then I will do it myself," Tako said with remarkable calmness, but Shikamaru had already retreated backwards, his hands opened up, pushing Ino behind him.

"Run, Ino!" Shikamaru shouted as he took out a kunai from his pouch.

"Foolish boy, trying to protect your enemy," Tako said disinterestedly.

"What?" Shikamaru questioned, before hearing a soft murmur sound from behind him. Turning halfway around, Ino whispered something into his right ear, a sudden sense of dizziness came over him, and before he could react, Shikamaru fell over on the floor.

"You are too soft, Ino," Tako said as he shut the door to the room. "You won't survive long if you continue to be so weak. I can let you die, but you are the hope of your mistress."

Stepping over the fallen boy, Ino approached the bed, standing by the side of the bed with Naruto lying unconsciously. Using her index finger and thumb, pulled down his chin, effectively opening his mouth. Without wasting another second, Ino gave Naruto a mouth-to-mouth kiss, blowing down cold air along with something else down his throat.

An icy cold feeling went up her chest, up her throat, and passed from her mouth to his, entering his body. Naruto's body jerked uncomfortably, resisting the entry of the foreign object, but it soon passed once the pearl completely entered his body.

Standing back up straight, Ino watched as Tako attempted to call Kagetsu with his telepathic skill, "Kagetsu, the pearl is in, can you feel it? Yes, good, good, okay, we will proceed to phrase three. Yes, good, good, once Sakura is ours, contact me."

"Sakura-chan?" Ino said worryingly, as far as she knew, no one told her anything about Sakura. "What do you want with Sakura-chan?!"

**x**

"Last match's fighters, please come on down," Gekkou Hayate announced.

Hearing the call, Sakura started to walk towards the stairs, but Sasuke stopped her by pulling onto her hand. "Be careful," the boy said uncomfortably. The two of them paused for a second, looking into each other's eyes, nodding slightly, Sakura pulled away from his grip and started to walk down.

"Go for it, Sakura-chan, we will support you all the way!" Lee cheered as Sakura walked by him.

"You're being ignored, my friend," Neji commented.

"Neji-kun, please, you are not helping here."

Laughing softly, Tenten shook her head in amusement.

Suddenly, a loud sound caught their attention, looking over, they saw as Kyoko had apparently jumped from the platform straight, creating two small craters at where her feet were. Removing her feet from the craters, Kyoko eyed Sakura as she took her time walking towards the judge.

Orochimaru, who was watching everything, noticed Kyoko's odd movements immediately, wondered for himself what was going on. Her hands were shaking, never in his life had he seen her being so excited.

_"__Could it be…__?"_ Suddenly, the worst-case scenario popped up in his mind.

"Please begin," Hayate said, when the two girls met up in the centre of the arena, which had by now gained a lot of rumbles, craters, holes, and cracks. However, unlike all the other matches before them, they did not start immediately, instead chose to stare at each other.

_"__What's wrong with her? Looking at me like that, is she waiting for me to start?"_ Sakura asked herself, slowly and steadily pulling out a kunai. Throwing it at Kyoko, Sakura immediately backed up, waiting for a counterattack from the girl, but instead, Kyoko caught her kunai and merely held it by the blade in her hand.

Surprised, Sakura halted for a moment, but it was at this moment that Kyoko threw the kunai back at her. Dodging it, Sakura threw two shuriken, but similarly with kunai, Kyoko caught both shuriken and threw them back at Sakura with deadly accuracy. Upon ducking her own shuriken again, Sakura was curious to find Kyoko to have once again stopped moving, merely watching her.

_"__What is she doing?! Is she playing a game with me?! No! She's testing me, judging my abilities, but it's obviously who's stronger here. She caught all three weapons and threw them back at me at lightning speed! And it is like as if she is expecting more out of me.__"_

Sighing, Kyoko said, "Let's begin."

With that, Kyoko dashed forward, pulling her right fist backward, readying it for a punch. Dodging it, Sakura was not surprised as the wall behind her shattered. _"__It was that jutsu she used against Kabuto-san! A sound attack!"_

Kyoko's movement and speed were amazing, no matter what kind of escape Sakura was planning, Kyoko always managed to catch up to her. Blocking her sound-induced punch was out of her league, thus making dodging her only option. After three more moves by Kyoko, Sakura realised that they were getting nowhere, as it was obvious that Kyoko was missing her on purpose, with her kind of speed, smashing her brain in was not really that hard if she tried.

"Is there anyway Sakura can stop that attack?" Sasuke asked himself aloud.

"And that girl, she's not even moving at her usual speed!" Lee sort of answered, pointing at the craters created. "Look at that, just from how she landed, we can tell that she's pretty good at her speed in accelerating to be able to create those holes."

"Either that, or she's just plain heavy," Tenten commented.

As if answering them, Sakura managed to got close to her opponent, using her right shoulder, she tried to throw Kyoko onto her feet. However, Kyoko's weight suddenly increased to the point whereby her feet sank down into another pair of craters, using her body as weight, she countered Sakura's move and flipped her over instead. Landing on her back, Sakura moaned in pain while holding onto her lower back.

Turning around slowly, Kyoko waited for Sakura to ready herself before grabbing on her face and slamming her back onto the ground. As blood spattered, the boys upstairs became uneasy and worried. "The way she moved, it's… impossible! It's too fast!" Lee mentioned, prompting Neji to use his Byakugan on Kyoko.

"Byakugan!" he whispered, and everything became crystal clear to him. It was the first time he saw such a sight, beautiful yet horrifying chakra pattern, her chakra flow was like no other. Sensing someone spying on her, Kyoko turned her head sharply, and hissed at Neji, prompting him to be snapped out of his Byakugan.

Kyoko continued to toy with Sakura, and every time Hayate wanted to help Sakura, and almost announced Kyoko's victory over Sakura, the Sound-nin would back out, allowing the stubborn girl to stand back on her feet. Cursing at the girl's stubborn nature, Hayate watched as Sakura wiped off the blood off her lips.

"Are we finished with the warm-ups, Haruno-san?" Kyoko questioned coldly, with no hint of emotion in it. Encircling the Genin, Kyoko watched as Sakura cuddled her splitting headache.

"Right… Let's get it over with," Sakura barely managed to answer back.

Pleased with the answer, Kyoko continued her attack, but only this time, it was faster. Kyoko slipped within Sakura's defences before she could even react, staring at Kyoko with her wide-opened eyes, as the Sound-nin delivered a blow to her abdomen. It was a normal punch, one without the aided effect of chakra or the sound shockwave.

"Hmph," Kyoko said with disappointment, backing up once more.

As Sakura toppled forward onto her feet, unconsciousness was already slipping in and out. One Kyoko became two, turning her head, she saw Sasuke blurring into Lee, just as Neji and Tenten were fusing into a single body.

"Hmph," Kyoko made her sharp sigh again, though this time, the sigh echoed in her mind.

**"Hmph,"** the noise came again, though this time, it was deeper, and came from within her head. Looking up, Sakura found herself surrounded by darkness, with a simple cage with iron bars a foot thick. Sitting in front of the bars on a chair, a girl that looked like her, with pink hair and green eyes, that girl was _her_. The one who Sakura recognised as her teacher, ever since their return from Wave Country, she had been taking minor lessons from her alter-ego, learning tricks to increase her fighting ability. More importantly, Sakura recognised her as the only hope she had to defeat Kyoko.

**"You are pathetic after all. After all that I have taught you?"** Sakura did not see Inner Sakura's mouth moved, but a coarse voice did indeed come from her direction as usual before.

"Heh, then show me what you can do!" Sakura challenged back.

**"Asking me to fight in your place? Are you really that weak?"** Inner Sakura asked, as if knowing what she was thinking.

"Are you afraid?!" Sakura taunted, trying to trick Inner Sakura into fighting for her, though knowing that it would be useless.

**"Hahahaha,"** Inner Sakura laughed loudly, rocking on her chair on her butt, slapping her kneecaps with her palms as if it was a joke. **"Go and die."**

"Won't you die if I die?!"

**"You won't die, isn't there a judge to make sure you don't?"**

"Wait!" Sakura shouted, stretching one hand, reaching out to the fleeing image of Inner Sakura.

**"What are all those lessons for? Have I taught you nothing? That in the end, you have to crawl back to me, needing my help? What was the reason you told me last time, when you begged for me to teach you? To protect someone, wasn't it?"**

"I… this time, it's different."

**"How will this be any different when one day an attacker kills your partners?"** her voice lingered even as her image faded from Sakura's mind. Sakura knew very well who the 'partners' the Inner Sakura was referring to, looking down, she thought of not wanting to lose them, like she almost did back when she was fighting Haku. No matter who it was, whether it was Inner Sakura herself or someone else, Sakura did not want to lose anyone else!

Left alone in the darkness, Sakura pondered on Inner Sakura's argument, and was immediately disgusted by herself, realising what she said was true. How would letting Inner Sakura fight for her change anything? After risking so much to establish a contact with a legendary demon, to request for her training, now she would resort to begging to survive?

"Then fight _with_ me!" Sakura shouted back, and at that instant, the absence spot of Inner Sakura sitting on a chair was replaced with her squatting down in front of her, her hands lifting the chin of Sakura, as if reading her thoughts.

**"Fight with you?"** Inner Sakura asked. **"It is an interesting idea… to fight with you. Then answer me one question, Sakura. What is your motive? It isn't just to live, you know that the judge would save your life no matter what."**

"My motive?" Sakura asked hesitating, though deep down, she knew immediately of her reason.

**"Why do you want to pass this exam so badly?"**

"I… Sasuke-kun passed! I want to pass as well!"

**"So, is that all? To follow someone else's path? But if _one_ fails, while the _other_ passes, who will you follow, I wonder."**

"I… I don't know what you are saying, but in the end, all I want is not to be left behind anymore!"

**"In the end, whether to protect someone's life, or to follow someone's path, all you longed for is to be with him?"** Inner Sakura thought for a second, her eyes watching into the darkness around them. **"Never have both our consciousnesses coexisted together, I can't promise anything."**

"I am not afraid," Sakura insisted.

**"You will fight with my abilities, instinct will come naturally to _us_,"** Inner Sakura replied, but after thinking for a bit, she continued saying, **"You have never been alone, I have always been there for you, Sakura-chan."**

"I…," Sakura said as the world around them lit up, brightening the world with colours. Standing before the two of them was Kyoko, waiting patiently, as if understanding what was going on, Sakura could almost see a mad smile on Kyoko's mask.

Sakura's hair felt lighter, running her hand through her long pink hair, she was sure that her hair was of a softer pink colour now, touching her face, Sakura could imagine the same change with her eyes, glowing like a cat's eyes in a moonless night, glowing green with renewed energy.

"Sakura-chan, she… changed," Lee said, appearing dumbfolded. However, no matter how taken aback the trio were, none could be more shocked than Sasuke, who had only heard of it from Naruto, yet never expecting it to happen again.

This was the fourth time in her life that her appearance changed, first, when she stole the Forbidden Scroll, second, when she fought Haku, and third was in the forest where Naruto and Sasuke were injured and unconscious, now this was her fourth. Sasuke never got the chance to see for himself, but could instantly recognise it from Naruto's description. Sakura's hair colour appeared brighter now, and her face appeared to be more mature as well.

_"__Sakura! What is happening?!__"_

Back below, the Hokage could not believe what he saw, his fingers digging into the wooden frame of his seat, tried to not to bolt from it. Around him, Jounins and Genins alike, were surprised with the change, and certainly scared and frightened.

"Welcome back, Haruno-san," Kyoko said without missing a beat. "Now, I can finally release my full potential, for us to finally finish our fight."

"I remember now, you… that night, _we_ fought," Sakura exclaimed, remembering the night after Naruto was bitten by Orochimaru, in the middle of the night, a person came, and that person was _her_.

"Yes, though we never did finish that fight," Kyoko admitted sadly. "But it was fun, long have I since fought like that, and this is how our match should be. You will need a weapon, you always felt naked without one." Lifting her right hand up straight, she fired a ball of highly concentrated shockwave up into the ceiling.

As rumbles fell around them, suddenly, a heavy metal cut through the air, and landed itself nicely next to Sakura's right hand. Taking to look, Sakura recognised it to be Gama Heijin's broad sabre, easily three times her height. **(#1)** Lifting it with unearthly strength, Sakura positioned herself for the fight.

**"Thank you."** Sakura recognised that it was not her voice that said that, was Inner Sakura really sincerely thanking Kyoko? But what for? **"It's time for you to reveal yourself as well, my dear."**

As if hit by a sudden growth spurt, Kyoko expanded, her height increased as bones lengthened. Bandages and fake skin tore apart, her smaller clothing could no longer hold the growing body and tore apart as well. From where Kyoko stood, there was only Hakkotsu.

**x**

"What the hell is happening?!" Tenten exclaimed, around her were her teammates, Neji and Lee, who too were shocked by the revelation. The girl they knew as Kinuta Kyoko had transformed into a heavily armoured female fighter, covered from head to toe. Even her voice had changed, now deeper and sounding somehow hollowed with echoes.

At one corner of the room, the Hokage sprang up from his seat, just as the Jounin instructors started to surround their leader, watching Hakkotsu closely.

"I have seen her before…," Sasuke murmured absentmindedly as his brain trying to process everything that happened.

"What?" Neji questioned, appearing disturbed that Sasuke might know the kunoichi.

Quickly explaining, Sasuke answered, "Back then… that Orochimaru guy, she was there." **(#2)**

**x**

"Security!" Hayate shouted out as he himself ran forward towards Hakkotsu (and Sakura).

"No! Hayate!" Kakashi shouted after the Jounin.

"Mikazuki no-," **(#3)** Hayate shouted, ignoring the weakness in his throat. "What?!" Hayate watched in surprise as time slowed down for him, coming closer and closer was Hakkotsu, with her fist clutched tightly readying a punch for him. Unable to dodge it, or execute his attack technique in time, he braced for impact.

Suddenly, Sakura came in between them, lifting her sword with ease, blocking the blow for him. However, even with the thick iron sword between Hakkotsu's fist and his body, the sound wave travelled through the thickness of the broad sabre and hit him, sending him flying backwards, crashing into the wall.

"Your opponent is me!" Sakura screamed.

"No one shall interrupt us!" Hakkotsu shouted back.

As the Jounins around the Hokage gathered to protect him, Orochimaru and Kagetsu made their moves.

"Do you know something that you didn't tell me?" Orochimaru hissed at Kagetsu.

"What made you said that? She's under _your _charge, not mine," Kagetsu asked, sounding very much annoyed as he was.

"Hakkotsu remembering her past, did you foresee that?" Orochimaru asked again.

Kagetsu said nothing else as she unsheathed her katana that was hanging from her hip. Walking by Baki, the Jounin instructor of the Sand-Genins, Kagetsu nodded her head, silently informing their partner in crime that it was time for him to send forth Gaara.

Orochimaru ploughed through the miscellaneous Chuunins with no problem, sending them flying all over as he went deeper, heading towards the Hokage. Kagetsu leapt in, challenging the Jounin instructors into a fight, leaving the tougher Hokage for Orochimaru himself.

Climbing out of the rumbles, Hayate tried to shake off the dizziness. However, in no time, Baki appeared before him. As if it was not bad enough, Sand-nins and Sound-nins appeared out of nowhere, fighting against the few Leaf-nins who were trying to reach the Hokage.

"What the heck?!" Tenten shouted in disbelief, what was previously an organised competition now turned into such chaotic rumble.

"Chuunins?! Jounins?!" Neji questioned, looking at the Sand-nins surrounding the instructors below, just as more Sound-nins appeared from the passageways.

"Ompf!" Tenten sounded suddenly just as the air was knocked out of her lungs by something hard. Rolling on the floor, she got up and saw Temari wielding her folded fan.

Looking around, Neji and Lee realised that Temari was back to continue her match with Tenten. "I will kill you this time!" the Sand-nin declared, smirking once more. "Oh heck, all of you, all at once!"

Knowing that Neji and Lee could most likely handle Temari on their own, Sasuke jumped over onto ground level just as Gaara used his sand to lower himself down slowly. Seeing Gaara's eyes set on Sakura, Sasuke shouted at the boy to get his attention. "Oh no, you don't!"

**x**

Ignoring everything happening around them, their only attention was only towards each other.

The heavy piece of steel in Sakura's hand acted gracefully with every swing, while Hakkotsu, though now larger in size, still reacted with deadly agility. The two of them parried with one another's attacks without using any special jutsu, but were still blows that even normal Jounins could not be able to handled by themselves.

Hakkotsu jumped over Sakura, landing behind her, slamming both palms behind her, creating a sudden shockwave. Blew forward by that blast, Sakura used the sword as an anchor, digging it into the stone tiles, spinning around, she confronted the charging Hakkotsu with a kick to the face. Alas, her leg was too short. Missing by more than a foot from her target, she found herself being seized instead. Pulling upon Sakura's leg, Hakkotsu easily lifted the lighter girl up, and spun her around like a doll.

Using her sword to slash against the armoured Hakkotsu with no effect, she found herself soon being thrown out. Barely landing on her feet, she was unable to block the next blow from Hakkotsu. Skidding on the floor on her back from that impact alone, Sakura turned the sword up, and tried to hit back. The length of the sword was long enough, but Hakkotsu was too fast for that. Hakkotsu jumped up, and landed steadily on the edge of the blade itself.

The added weight from Hakkotsu brought Sakura's blade down, sinking it deep into the ground. As Sakura tried to extract the weapon out, Hakkotsu delivered a heavy kick up Sakura's chin. However, that was the needed assistance Sakura was looking for, with that, the blade came loose, but at the cost of another aching bruise.

"Enough for games, let's begin!" Hakkotsu said laughing, enjoying every single moment of the fight. Retreating back, she stretched out both hands to her sides, snapping her fingers, she called out her technique, "Rousoku Shirei **(#4)**!"

Six orb of sparkling lightning appeared beside her, moving off one by one towards the direction of Sakura, homing onto her every movement. Dodging to the side, Sakura swung her sword to hit second orb ignoring the coming electrifying pain from the energy ball. The second orb spun out of control and crashed against the third and fourth orbs, just as Hakkotsu dashed forward, grabbing the fifth and sixth orbs in each hand.

Throwing one orb at Sakura, Hakkotsu came in with the second orb, pressing it painfully against Sakura's stomach just as she dodged the previous orb. With the wound already healing by itself, Sakura ignored Hakkotsu's electric attacks, instead chose to spin in a circle, dragging the blade around her in a circle, quickly gaining the momentum before bringing it up again with one hand.

Recognised it as her trademark technique, Hakkotsu challenged her in return, by retuning a counter move.

**"Chouryuu Shindou (#5)!"** Sakura shouted as she placed her left hand on the hilt as well before slicing horizontally from the left to the right towards Hakkotsu.

Leaping forward and landing in a feline-like posture, with two hands stretched outwards in front of her, shouting, "Nanka Kishi **(#6)**!" A column of lightning came forth from where her hands touched the ground, tearing the floor tiles apart as it moved towards Sakura's Chouryuu Shindou.

Hakkotsu's lightning attack moved slower than Sakura's wind attack, but it proved to be more powerful than the incoming Chouryuu Shindou. As the stored energy was released, the two techniques exploded, sucking in air for a brief moment before blowing both Sakura and Hakkotsu away from the explosion as wind met lightning.

Almost everyone within the hall was knocked off their feet with the aftermath of the explosion, even those who were fighting on the observation platform were not sparred from the blinding light created.

Sakura pressed against the bleeding wound she got from the explosion, though knowing that it would eventually heal. Suddenly, footsteps sounded from the opposite direction, from beyond the light, a figure walked towards her. What left of her clothing were burned off, revealing the full horror of the armour she wore, covering from head to toe, Hakkotsu was embraced in a suit made of bone.

* * *

**- Glossary -**

**#1 :: Broad Sabre** – Back in chapter 40, Yoroi attacked Gama Heijin, causing him to accidentally throw his sword up into the ceiling where it got stuck.  
**#2 :: Green Hooded Stranger** – Remember the strange person in green that Sasuke thought he saw in chapter 35, who warned him of Orochimaru's coming?  
**#3 :: Mikazuki no Mai** – My version of the Dance of the Crescent Moon is different from the canon storyline's version, read next chapter.  
**#4 :: Rousoku Shirei** – Ranged homing lightning bolts, numbers vary from two to a maximum of eight bolts.  
**#5 :: Chouryuu Shindou** – Tidal Shock, Inner Sakura's strongest of the three attacks used so far. The attack travels as a wave, it gets more powerful as the distance it travels increases. Sakura will channel chakra into her weapon, and cuts the air, causing a fierce wind.  
**#6 :: Nanka Kishi** – Ranged heavy attack, using chakra to release the stored energy in the earth, unleashing a powerful and fast moving pillar of lightning.

**- Author's Note -**

In the original draft, Sakura was using Zabuza's sword. The awakened Inner Sakura has three wind techniques (from the weakest to the strongest):  
1. Shiro Gufuu – White Tornado – Upwards spinning attack  
2. Hanabira Boufuu – Petal Storm – Vertical up-to-down slash, longest range  
3. Chouryuu Shindou – Tidal Shock – Horizontal left-to-right slash, damage accumulates as it travels longer  
4. Combo – Knock him up, push him away, then blast him

The awakened Hakkotsu has four lightning techniques (from the weakest to the strongest):  
1. Gesshoku Suzumebachi – Moonlight Wasps – Rapid fire  
2. Rousoku Shirei – Candle Ghosts – 2x to 8x homing missiles  
3. Butou Kairai – Dancing Dolls – Fixed location area of effect  
4. Nanka Kishi – Pumpkin Knight – Powerful blast shot


	44. Akatsuki

**- Author's Note -**

This chapter coexists together in the same timeline as the previous chapter, the first paragraph happened when Kyoko just turned into Hakkotsu.

**Act 7: Howls of the Beasts  
Chapter 44: Akatsuki  
**Updated on: 21 August, 2008

* * *

"An ambush?!" Ibiki shouted in surprise.

The whole place was in total chaos, out of nowhere, Shinobi from Hidden Sand and Hidden Sound poured in through the multiple entrances. The few Leaf Chuunins entered a battle frenzy against the overwhelming Sand-nins and Sound-nins, some even tried to intercept the advancing Orochimaru, but were quickly cut down mercilessly within seconds.

"They must have waiting for this moment, where we are isolated within the Practice Area 44, a place where it is hard for reinforcement to come, and hard for the news of our attack to escape," the older Sarutobi calmly analysed. "Morino-san, please help out Gekkou-kun. Maito-sensei, help out the kids, get them out of there, Hatake-sensei, Asuma, the two of you will handle the kunoichi. I will take on Orochimaru."

Without saying another word, the six of them moved off into different direction, leaving behind dust clouds.

Hayate who just recovered from Hakkotsu's attack, was already being swamped by Baki and his Sand-nins, who were trying to surround him.

"For the Sand to betray Leaf…," Hayate said cautiously as he quickly ran out of the formation that the Sand-nins were using to box him in.

"An alliance is only useful as camouflage to make the enemy relax his guard," Baki answered. Forming hand seals, Baki summoned upon his chakra to enforce the air around his hand to form into a sharp blade made up of air. "Kaze no Yaiba **(#1)**!"

"Fine then, let us see whose sword skill is superior! Mikazuki no Mai **(#2)**!" Hayate shouted, his two hands forming a seal before drawing his own blade. Teleporting from one location to another, each teleportation came with a slash, Baki blocked a few hits but received a new minor scratches.

Baki understood that no matter how powerful his Kaze no Yaiba was, it was useless if he could not hit his target. Waiting for the right moment, he allowed himself be slashed by Hayate's Mikazuki no Mai. Catching the blade of Hayate's katana with his left hand, Baki immediately counterattacked back at the Leaf-nin with his blade of highly concentrated pressurised air.

"Jishin no Jutsu **(#3)**!" someone shouted, knocking both Baki and Hayate off their feet as the ground around them shook violently. Missing his target, Baki cursed aloud, turning to see Ibiki lifting both fists off the floor.

With the wind blade still on his fingertips, he hurled it at Ibiki like a boomerang, who immediately response by moulding the earth with chakra, dragging it up like a carpet, using the solid ground as his shield **(#4)**.

With his katana still in his hand, Hayate quickly took the chance to attack Baki while he was distracted with Ibiki. However, Baki anticipated that move, and lifted both feet up and pointed them at Hayate. At first, Hayate felt a sudden breeze passing by his face, suddenly, a strong gust appeared out of nowhere, sending him flying yet again.

Flipping himself back onto his feet, Baki created another Kaze no Yaiba, one on each hand. Sensing Ibiki running towards him, he quickly bended down and swept Ibiki off his feet with a kick enhanced by the power of the wind. While Ibiki was still down, Baki pounced forward with both Kaze no Yaiba aiming for his vital organs.

Hayate's katana quickly came in between the two of them, blocking Baki's attacks, allowing enough time for Baki to regain his position

"Impossible! Two of you can't beat me?!" Baki confronted the two of them, though he knew better. He was a high-ranking Jounin back home, while though he knew little of these two, he heard that all judges were only minor Jounins.

"He seems to be able to produce powerful wind from all over his body, much like Neji-kun's chakra effect, he can attack and defend from all direction?" Ibiki suggested to Hayate, who was already having a hard time breathing, cursing at his frail health.

"You jested… We… can't beat you?" Hayate struggled.

"Hmph, if you really think that way, look carefully beneath you, see what we have done while you are talking to us!" Ibiki shouted.

"What?!" Baki exclaimed in surprise, looking down he saw-

"You fell for the simplest of all tricks!" Ibiki shouted as he quickly formed the necessary seals. Dragging his right foot against the earth **(#4)**, Ibiki pushed the ground up, sending it flying towards Baki's face. Blocking his face in prevention of getting any soil into his eyes, Baki felt another kick coming. He tried to dodge it, but with his eyes covered, he failed to do so.

Using another strong powerful kick enhanced by chakra, Ibiki tossed Baki up into the air. Dashing in with his katana back in his sheath, Hayate jumped and used Ibiki's shoulder as a jumping platform, pushing himself higher up into the sky. Pulling out his katana with an incredible speed, Hayate announced his finishing move, "Mikazuki no Tenbatsu **(#5)**!"

The fiction between the blade and the sheath was so great that a small spark of fire ignited the length of the blade. Using it to boost his attack, Hayate used his chakra to expand the effect of the fire. Cutting Baki down with his sword of flame, Hayate crash-landed on the opposite side. Without taking a look at what happened to Baki, Hayate collapsed onto the floor.

Burned but not defeated, Baki clutched hard onto his bleeding wound. A Sand-nin tried to pull Baki away from the fight, but was immediately pushed to the ground by Baki. "I am not done with either of you yet!"

Just as Baki was preparing to release his terror on the remaining Ibiki, a sudden explosion of a very fierce aura could be felt behind him. Shocked by the sudden presence, he turned around, ignoring Ibiki, who too was feeling the presence of yet another fighter.

The electronic board that was used to announce the names of the fighters beeped and blinked louder and brighter than before. As sparks of electrical fire flew from the side, both Baki and his Sand-nins retreated backward, sensing something was wrong. Quickly carrying the unconscious Hayate away, Ibiki watched with perspiration rolling down the sides of his face, wondering who could produce such demonic aura. Turning to one side, he saw Sakura and Hakkotsu still fighting. _"It could not have been Sakura, could it?! No! It's another one!"_

The electronic board exploded outwards, raining glass and electronic components on Baki and his men. As his men screamed in pain from the shattered glass, Baki and Ibiki watched as the smoke cleared, revealing a dimmed room with a blinking and dying fluorescent light in the room. A shadowy figure walked out slowly.

"What the-?!" Baki said, looking at the monstrous figure.

Moving at an impossible speed, the mysterious fighter dropped down and went past Baki. Still disbelieving that how he could be so easily defeated, Baki fell forward, another deep slashing wound now embedded onto his body. Catching their leader, the Sand-nins shouted in fear and confusion, and quickly fled the hall with the wounded leader.

"You… no…," Ibiki said, just as Hayate lifted his head up, catching a glimpse of the winged demon.

**x**

**(A/N: Remember, several of the fights in this chapter are happening together at the same time but at different locations.)**

Jingi Kagetsu was the foreteller within the organisation, she was the first to suspect having a mole within their organisation leaking information out, and was also the first to confirm it for herself by using her sacred mirror, Yata no Kagami **(#6)**. Though knowing that Hakkotsu would betray them one day, they still brought her with them nevertheless, because at the moment, they are short of manpower, the other Akatsuki were already travelling around the continent removing their future risks. Unknown to Orochimaru and Hakkotsu, who was informed that only the four of them were involved with this mission, two other Missing-nins had already infiltrated into Konohagakure, awaiting for the right time to strike. For their _fourth_ mission objective, to kill _both_ Hakkotsu and Orochimaru, who had proved to be too hard to tame.

Kagetsu was never much of a fighter, but she could handle her own fight if she had to, after all, she owned one of the most powerful of all katana, the Kusanagi no Tsurugi **(#7)**, a blade unbreakable by any force, and also capable of slashing through almost anything.

To her right was Hakkotsu and Sakura, fighting like enraged demons. To her left was Orochimaru, who had already engaged onto a fight with the Hokage. To her back, two minor Jounins fought bravely against Baki. Only the front was opened to her, with two senior Jounins awaiting her, she recognised one of them to be the Copy-nin, Hatake Kakashi.

As she started off slowly walking towards Kakashi and Asuma, she suddenly spotted Gai running behind them, heading towards Gaara, who had strangely became entangled with a bunch of Genins. Knowing that Gai should not be distracting Gaara anymore than he already was, Kagetsu quickly called down the aid of the backup watching them.

_"Tako, call down Motomiya to attack that green Jounin!"_ Kagetsu called out, since she did not have the ability to talk telepathically, she had to use her mental connection with Tako to relay the message to Motomiya.

The mental message was instantly sent towards the lone girl resting on top of stone monument depicting the faces of various Hokages. Pulling the forehead protector down to her neck, the girl called Motomiya revealed a single inch-long horizontal scar right in the middle of her forehead. Tthe scar cracked and opened up, displaying what was truly unique only to Motomiya Miyuki, her third eye.

Drawing the arrow, Miyuki aimed at Gai, who was located miles away, behind the buildings between them, behind the huge overgrown forest in the Practice Area, within the stone tower at which he was in, totally unaware of the arrow. Unleashing her arrow, it flew, cutting through stone bricks, thick canopy, and even the fortified tower of the Practice Area 44.

"Urgh!" Gai screamed in pain, a single arrow had pierced through both his thighs, severing the muscles in his legs. Falling flat on his face, just as a few Jounins turned to look at what happened to him. "What the hell happened?!"

"That's… Motomiya Miyuki's arrow! Why is she here? Why am I not informed of her involvement?" Orochimaru hissed softly in surprise to himself. _"If she's here… then he is here as well… What are Kagetsu and Tako up to? Did they know beforehand that Hakkotsu will betray me?!"_

Appearing disturbed by Miyuki's appearance, Orochimaru looked at Kagetsu, seeking an answer. However, the kunoichi merely ignored Orochimaru, and was already fighting her own battle against Kakashi and Asuma, as if nothing happened at all.

Though surprised by the attack, the elder Sarutobi took the chance of seeing Orochimaru being distracted, and attacked him. Pushing Orochimaru back towards in the direction of Kagetsu and Asuma, the Hokage quickly shout out to Kakashi, "Hatake-sensei, help Maito-sensei and the kids! Work with me on this, Asuma!"

"Can you handle this alone?" Kakashi asked Asuma, seeing the bearded man nodding, he immediately ran over to Gai's side. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I'm okay, go to the kids, I can still walk," Gai lied, pushing himself up, leaning against a wall.

"Don't work too hard, my friend," Kakashi said before finally moving on to his next location.

Struggling up, Gai examined his wounds, suddenly Gai detected another incoming missile. Pushing himself off the wall he was leaning on, he caught the arrow with his bare hand, the speed and velocity of the projectile burned his hand, causing him to throw it onto the ground. Looking at the arrow, Gai realised that whoever attacked him was using normal arrow merely enchanted with chakra to prevent them from burning up when flying towards their target. Whoever was shooting at him, was a powerful archer.

**x**

"That green man is still alive, master, shall I shoot again?" Miyuki asked, her third eye still wide opened. Hearing no answer from her master, Miyuki lowered her bow, and turned around, observing the older man holding a pair of binoculars. **(#8)**

"Don't waste your time on him, he's disabled for now, keep your attention on the girl, and Hakkotsu," her master said.

"And of the Hokage?"

"The priority is with the girl, we already got both Naruto and the Scroll, but Hakkotsu is too dangerous to be ignored. Hmm, Miyuki, who is… that over there?" the larger man asked, pointing off in the far distance, of a single dot leaping from treetop to treetop towards the tower.

Turning her attention back to the village, Miyuki took a closer look. "White hair, old, wearing red. Almost as ugly as you are, sir."

"Hmm, sounds like old Jiraiya," the master said. "I'm joining in the fight. Ignore that 'green man', keep your sight on Sakura and Hakkotsu, keep Sakura alive, once she's down and unconscious, kill Hakkotsu."

**x**

**(A/N: Again, we are rewinding a bit back to the time when the fight just started.)**

Upon seeing Gaara's interest on Sakura, Sasuke immediately challenged the Sand-nin. Behind him, Neji and Lee were working together fighting Temari, buying time for Tenten to recover.

_"Argh! What's this? I feel drained, the mark on my neck, it's hurting badly! I can't use my chakra effectively!"_ Sasuke thought, noticing his speed slowly down due to exhaustion from the Curse Seal, but even so, Sasuke forced himself to continue on with his Sharingan. Right now at his weakened state, his Sharingan was the only thing that might allow him a winning chance.

As it turned out, Temari was no match to either Neji or Lee, much less both of them at the same time. "Dai Kamaitachi no Jutsu **(#9)**!" Temari called, pumping out a more powerful version of her usual Kamaitachi no Jutsu. Neji blocked it with his Kaiten **(#10)**, while Lee jumped backwards, and dodged it while carrying Tenten in his arms.

Jumping down, Temari joined Gaara and Sasuke on ground level. A quick survey around on the situation told her that both sides seemed to be in a draw, but Gaara was easily beating back Sasuke.

Joining Sasuke on ground floor, Neji, Tenten and Lee immediately entered the fight. Gaara unleashed an area attack, the released sand from his gourd rolled and became a mini wave of sand. Temari jumped up, just as the boys did as well. Tenten was slower, and was caught by her feet in the sand. Grabbing her, Gaara's sand picked her up and slammed her against the ground.

"Neji-kun!" Lee shouted as he pulled out the metal weights he was wearing, hurling them at Temari who dodged them. While still in midair, Neji quickly released chakra from his arms, and pushed Lee forward. Spinning in midair, Lee used Neji's arm and his chakra as propulsion to push him forward, giving Gaara a furious kick to the face.

Gaara's face cracked a little, frowning, Gaara summoned his sand back, releasing his hold on Tenten to heal himself. Rescuing Tenten, Neji saw the advancing Temari, again trying to use her Kamaitachi no Jutsu.

"Kage Bushin no Jutsu **(#11)**!" Sasuke shouted, sending one of his clones towards Temari, distracting her while Neji made his escape with Tenten in his arms. Using the rest of the clones, he sent them towards Lee and Gaara, helping the Green Beast Junior against Gaara.

Lee was too fast for Gaara, but not Sasuke's clones, which were quickly disposed off. Using one of his clone to jump on, Sasuke pushed himself higher before trying out another technique, "Ryuuka no Jutsu **(#12)!"**

The powerful flame rained on Gaara just as Lee fled out of range just in time.

"Argh! My fan is on fire!" Temari screamed, panicking, rolling her folded fan on the sand, trying to put out the fire. Sasuke landed back onto his feet, severely weakened, using Ryuuka no Jutsu had drained him of his last chakra, and the strange mark on the back of his neck was giving off very sharp piercing pain, as if it was consuming his body.

Suddenly, a fierce battle aura appeared behind Gaara. Temari looked up, surprised to see a Jounin instructor focusing his attention on them.

"Sasuke! Watch and learn this! **(#13)**" Kakashi shouted, in one hand, he was accumulating chakra, using his free hand, he pulled his forehead protector up, revealing his single Sharingan eye.

Gaara turned around fully, gathering his sand to use Suna no Tate **(#14)** to shield his body just as Kakashi moved at an incredibly speed towards him. Upon contact, the sand exploded briefly, and for a brief moment, even breaking his Suna no Yoroi **(#15)**, totally exposing the real Gaara underneath the shield. Gaara's face was a mixed of anger and shock, surprised that such powerful technique existed.

"That's Chidori **(#13)**!" Neji exclaimed in surprise, he had heard before this was his special trademark skill.

"Neji-kun! Sasuke-kun, he…," Tenten called out, noticing the hurting Sasuke, who fell onto his knees.

Gaara's sand returned, recovering his body.

"What? That did nothing to him?" Kakashi said, his right hand still glowing faintly.

"Kakashi-sensei! Do that again! He was exposed for a second, I think I can get him then!" Lee whispered behind him.

"Fine, we will strike him altogether at the same time," Kakashi said after thinking for a while.

"Guys! Lend me all your kunai and shuriken!" Tenten asked all of the sudden as Kakashi quickly prepared for another Chidori.

"You are not getting away with this, girl!" Temari shouted, attacking once more, her fan recovered (though with charred hair).

"Jishakukei **(#16)**!" Tenten said as she formed the seals, instantly, the kunai in her hand linked themselves together forming a whip. Throwing one end of the whip at Temari, Tenten grabbed Temari with it, and spun her against the wall. Temari was badly hurt from the razor-sharp blades and the crash against the wall, but she was not down yet.

Holding his right hand before his body, Kakashi clutched tightly onto the sphere of blue lightning, his Raikiri. "Go!" Dragging the Raikiri on the ground, he slowly lifted the hand, pointing it at Gaara. At the same time, Gaara attacked back. Just as Kakashi was about to be buried by his sand, Neji leapt in and used his Kaiten, creating a safe path for the Jounin.

Knowing that he would be hit, Gaara recalled all sand back, fortifying his Suna no Tate. However, the lightning damage from Kakashi's Chidori easily burst through his Suna no Tate, and even creating hairline cracks on his Suna no Yoroi.

As Gaara tumbled backwards, trying to repair his shield and armour, Lee jumped into his attacking range. Now angered by Kakashi's action, Gaara was quick to spot him, and swiftly tried to slam him onto the ground, but he was too late, and ended up receiving a very painful kick to his face, totally exposing his real face.

Neji tried to finish Gaara off just as Kakashi spun around trying to do the same. Temari attacked Neji just in time to stop him, while Kakashi was caught in Gaara's sand. Suddenly, Tenten's whip came zooming into Gaara's face, on the tip of the whip was an explosive tag.

Upon seeing the tag, Gaara raised his sand trying to shield his exposed face and upper body. With the sand thinned, the explosion broke though the sand barrier, allowing Tenten to strike one more time, this time with the sharp end of her whip.

Pushed to the ground by Temari's fan, Neji watched as the girl spun around and started running towards her brother. Blood spattered as the Sand-nin leapt in-between her brother and the whip, using her folded fan to block the whip. Unexpectedly, the whip bored itself through, shattering the wooden frames, stabbing deep into Temari's torso.

Surprised, Tenten's hands shaking as she dropped her kunai. With her hand separated from the main kunai, the rest of the chain broke off, unravelling the whip.

The rest of the boys stood down from their formation, even as Temari yanked out the kunai in her chest, tumbling backwards into the arms of Gaara. His skin of sand rebuilt back into its original state, but his hands were slowly being dyed red from the blood sipping into the sand.

"And here… is my greatest technique…!" the wounded girl whispered, while still in Gaara's embrace, Temari used one hand to forcefully pull out the kunai.

The others watched on intensively, not expecting anymore from the Sand kunoichi.

Opening what was left of her fan, Temari attempted to call forth the power of her final jutsu. Gaara released his grip on his sister, reaching out, Gaara put one hand on Temari's broken fan, shutting it shut.

"Wha…?"

"Enough, Temari," Gaara whispered seemingly emotionlessly.

"But I... can still…"

Gathering all of his sand, Gaara did not wait for his sister's reply, forming one colossal sphere surrounding him and Temari.

"Wait, Gaa-" Temari protested as shadow and sand engulfed her and Gaara.

The sphere cannoned itself up, crashing through the ceiling, fleeing from the scene.

"They fled?" Kakashi thought out loud, suddenly remembering Gai, he scanned around searching for Lee.

As Lee ran passed Tenten, Neji walked up to the girl behind her, patting her on her shoulder. "It's all right," Neji consoled. Breaking down, Tenten sobbed quieting, leaning her head on his shoulder.

"Gai-sensei! What happened?!" Lee shouted, finally noticing Gai's injuries. "Gai-sensei! How are you feeling?!" Lee asked.

"Ahahaha, I must be getting old, my legs are numbed. In any case, Lee, I have a very important mission for you, right now, we do not know if the outside world is even aware of the attack. You are the fastest, Lee. Get help."

"Yes, Gai-sensei!"

Seeing Sasuke looking back at Tenten, Kakashi tapped Sasuke on his head, gaining his attention, saying, "It's all right, we became shinobi knowing that we will have to kill one day. That girl understands what she will have to lose to become who she is right now. Had she not do what she have done, she will be the one who have to suffer. She… will get over it."

Sasuke said nothing, only silently letting go of his Sharingan, almost forgetting about the pain on his neck. Gaining speed, Kakashi went towards Gai, leaving Sasuke to ponder on the matter.

"Hey, how are you doing?" Kakashi asked lazily, inspecting his wounds, he was surprised that Gai could still stand. "Hey, we better…"

"Go ahead without me, Hatake-sensei!" Gai said in his typical 'good guy' pose. Eyeing him wearily, never tired of seeing how his old friend always smiling even in the darkest time. "Get them for me, Kakashi," Gai said, saying his name.

"Yeah, whatever," Kakashi answered. "Neji, help me, I can still fight, we need to clear the remaining enemies just in case," the Jounin said amid of the children's protests. "Tenten, stay with Sasuke-kun, looks like he won't be following us, seeing how beat up he is right now," Gai said as Lee disappeared, looking at Sasuke, who could not peel his eyes off the fight Sakura was having with Hakkotsu.

**x**

The older Sarutobi forced Orochimaru back by suddenly switching from ninjutsu to taijutsu. Suddenly bumping onto someone, Orochimaru turned around, surprised to see Kagetsu being pushed towards him by Asuma, who used the same taijutsu techniques on her.

"Hmph, trying to corner the two of us?" Kagetsu commented.

While Asuma was wearing his iron knuckles, the Hokage was using his bare hands. Together, the two of them displayed a series of complex attacks, punching the two Akatsuki with swift blows. Orochimaru quickly pulled out a katana from within his mouth, similarly switching to melee combat to counter the two Sarutobis. Likewise, Kagetsu used her katana to parry Asuma's punches.

Suddenly, Kagetsu counterattacked, plunging her katana into Asuma. Even when wounded, Asuma proved to be difficult foe, he turned out to be very nimble in dodging and attacking. It took her longer than she thought, but Kagetsu soon caught Asuma in another slash, cutting him.

Meanwhile, Orochimaru forced his way out of the entrapment the two Sarutobis had set for them, returning back into ranged combat, Orochimaru shot out vipers from his sleeves. Distracted, the Hokage accidentally allowed Orochimaru to sink his fangs down onto him. Resisting the poison, the older Sarutobi elbowed Orochimaru, forcing his way out.

"Asuma, are you all right?" the Hokage asked.

Just as Kagetsu thought that she could finally gang up on the Hokage with Orochimaru now that Asuma was weakened, Kakashi came into the scene… "Grr…" Kagetsu resumed into her trying-to-stab-someone-who-is-simply-too-fast-for-her mode.

Suddenly, the electronic board exploded, raining shattered glass and components over Baki and his men. Just as Ibiki and Hayate watched the event happening, even Orochimaru and Sarutobi paused their fight, surprised with the arrival of an unannounced newcomer.

Kagetsu grinned, thinking that it was the arrival of… _"Eh? Wait a minute, who the hell is _that_? Another factor my foretelling failed to tell me?"_

"What the-?!" Baki said, looking at the monstrous figure.

Moving at an impossible speed, the mysterious fighter dropped down and went past Baki. Still disbelieving that how he could be so easily defeated, Baki fell forward from the force, another deep slashing wound now embedded onto his body. Catching their leader, the Sand-nins shouted in fear and confusion, and quickly fled the hall with the wounded leader.

"You… no…," Ibiki said, just as Hayate lifted his head up, catching a glimpse of the winged demon.

The new arrival had light grey skin, her hair was light purple in colour and reached down to her waist. Wings were sprouted from the ends of her elbows, swaying lightly in the wind, it was this pair of wings that she used to cut down Baki. Two small horns protruded out from her forehead, but her eyes remained her original eye colour: light greyish-brown.

Orochimaru recognised her immediately.

**x**

_Half an hour ago…_

"Haha, I always wonder what it is like behind the screen," Anko laughed as she continued to pull out wires belonging to a small black box connected to the wall. Right beside to where the little black box was a loose wall panel, with an exposed circuitry directly connecting to the screen mounted right on the other side of this wall. "But who? Is there an order of matches that they wanted to fight? Or is one of theirs supposed to go against a kid of ours?" Looking down at the loose wires that she pulled out, she spoke while observing, "I hope that this will do the trick, and that the board should revert back to random drawing of names now."

Footsteps announced the entry of another person to this little accessed circuit room, immediately turning around, Anko bumped right into the newcomer. Wrapping the hands around Anko's tiny neck, the stranger started to chock the Jounin.

"Orochimaru-sama will be not pleased that you choose to betray him again, Anko-_sempai_."

Anko tried to resist, but the hold on her was too strong, soon, Anko's kicks and struggle became weaker and weaker until she stopped moving.

Hakkotsu stayed around for a while, looking at the corpse of the Jounin named Anko. Kicking her slightly, Hakkotsu said, "You're bad at acting dead."

Life instantly returned to Anko's face, sticking her tongue out. "I don't know who you are, but if it's a fight you want, I-"

"Not just Orochimaru, but there are others already here in Konohagakure," Hakkotsu said without waiting for Anko to finish.

Surprised, Anko looked up, remembering the warning passed to all Jounins about 'Akatsuki', the Jounin watched Hakkotsu curiously.

"I'm sorry, I afraid I must have missed the introductions, just who the hell are you again?" Anko asked.

**x**

"Hehehe, I certainly didn't expect that," Orochimaru muttered while admiring the beauty of his creation, the second level cursed form of Mitarashi Anko, totally forgotten about the fight with the Hokage.

"More of your freaks?" Kagetsu enquired quickly as she parried off Kakashi's attacks with her Kusanagi no Tsurugi.

Ignoring the frenzy around her, Anko stared into the eyes of her former master. "Orochimaru-sama, is this what you have always intended for me?" the demonic Anko asked, her wings stretched to their full extend to emphasised on the change in her. "This body and wings," Anko continued while looking down at her clawed hands. "It's…"

"'Orochimaru-sama'? Does she still call him that?" Ibiki asked himself.

"Magnificent, isn't it, Anko. Though I do not understand how the unstable prototype Curse Seal that I placed on you could allow you to transform, I am nevertheless pleased with what I see before me."

"Is this how you see me, Orochimaru-sama?" Anko asked sadly.

"Enough talk, Anko, I can't wait to taste you personally, to see what my little girl has grown up to be," Orochimaru said. Channelling chakra into his feet, Orochimaru jumped towards Anko.

Laughing, Anko turned and ran, jumping back into the hole from which she came from. Backing up, Anko allowed Orochimaru enough space for him to land in. Caressing her right cheek with his slender hand, Orochimaru muttered one last time, "You are so beautiful."

**x**

"What the hell?" Kagetsu cursed as Orochimaru chased the fleeing Anko. Looking around to finally notice that both Gaara and Baki had made their way out while she was busy fighting. "Oh heck it, I'm out of here." Closing her eyes for a second, Kagetsu called out to her partner to signal for their retreat, _"Tako, we are leaving."_

Just as Kagetsu was about to flee, Sakura shouted out her final attack, **"Chouryuu Shindou (#17)!"** Sakura shouted as she placed her left hand on the hilt as well before slicing horizontally from the left to the right towards Hakkotsu.

Leaping forward and landing in a feline-like position, with two hands stretched outwards in front of her, shouting, "Nanka Kishi **(#18)**!" A column of lightning came forth from where her hands touched the ground, tearing the floor tiles apart as it moved towards Sakura's Chouryuu Shindou.

Hakkotsu's lightning attack moved slower than Sakura's wind attack, but it proved to be more powerful than the incoming Chouryuu Shindou. As the stored energy was released, the two techniques exploded, sucking in air for a brief moment before blowing both Sakura and Hakkotsu away from the explosion as wind met lightning.

Almost everyone within the hall was knocked off their feet with the aftermath of the explosion, even those who were fighting on the observation platform were not sparred from the blinding light created.

Sakura pressed against the bleeding wound she got from the explosion, though knowing that it would eventually heal. Suddenly, footsteps sounded from the opposite direction, from beyond the light, a figure walked towards her. What left of her clothing were burned off, revealing the full horror of the armour she wore, covering from head to toe, Hakkotsu was embraced in a suit made of bone.

Using the chance that most people were distracted, Kagetsu leapt up onto the observing platform, and ran out of the hall, heading towards the infirmary.

An arrow came all of the sudden, aiming straight for Hakkotsu, noticing the missile coming for her, Hakkotsu dodged it. It was then that she realised that only one person who could shoot through wall blindly and still hit her target was Motomiya Miyuki.

"Motomiya? What… It's a trap," Hakkotsu said blankly, suddenly realising what was happening. Looking around, she realised that none of Akatsuki people she came in with was around anymore. "Damned!"

_"They must have known about me recovering, and thought that they can kill me here,"_ Hakkotsu thought. "_So that was why so few people were assigned for this mission, and the interference of Motomiya Miyuki only proved that I'm right! There is no time to loose, Naruto is in danger! Damned it! Why didn't I think of it earlier?! Ino left, probably summoned by that changeling! I was so caught up with Haruno that… Aarghhhh! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!"_

Hakkotsuki screamed in frustration as another arrow came out of nowhere, this time, Hakkotsu used her shockwave punch to knock it out of course. Increasing her speed, Hakkotsu immediately stomped out of the place, chasing after Kagetsu.

Before Sakura could apprehend what was happening, whoever was shooting the arrows at Hakkotsu had switched target to her. With the demon still semi-conscious within herself, Sakura had enhanced senses, enough for her to use her sword as a bat, hitting the arrow that was aiming for her, back at the shooter. The arrow flew through the same hole that it came through from, passing by the trees and passing through brick wall, before Miyuki barely dodged it. Jumping to one side, the surprised Miyuki swallowed her pride, and decided she had enough of missing for one day. It was time for a late afternoon snack anyway.

"Sakura!" Sasuke shouted as he caught the falling girl, feeling her energy draining out of her, exhausted from the fight, she mumbled her last before falling unconscious, **"Naruto-kun is in danger, find… him…"**

"Go, I will look after the girl," Tenten said, walking up behind him. Nodding, Sasuke passed Sakura over to Tenten, before running after Hakkotsu.

**x**

The fight in the main hall was about to end, all that were left were some Sand-nins and Sound-nins. The Hokage took a look at everyone that was injured: once he stopped the bleeding, his son was relatively fine; Hayate was extremely exhausted, something that only rest could help; Gai was all right, the only problem was his legs, which look rather tricky. Kakashi looked at the Hokage, silently requesting for orders. Ibiki was already organising parties to help the injured.

"You know what you have to do, follow that kunoichi," the Hokage said.

"What about you, Hokage-sama?" Kakashi asked sluggishly.

"There's something I have to do," the Hokage said, looking in the direction at which Anko and Orochimaru fled.

"Be careful, sir, now that Anko…"

"No, she's still on our side, I can sense that, she just wanted to be alone with him for a while," the Hokage answered as he started walking towards the hole in the wall. "Oh, one more thing, Kakashi, do not harm that other kunoichi, the armoured lady."

"Of course, she's after all…," Kakashi did not complete his sentence, letting it fade off as he ran in the opposite direction.

Pretending that he did not hear that, the older Sarutobi organised Ibiki and Asuma to come with him, leaving Hayate and Gai behind.

**x**

"It is impossible for you to transform," Orochimaru said with remarkable calmness, chasing Anko through the corridors of the tower. Orochimaru would occasionally throw a few projectiles at the girl in front, as if just to play the part of being the pursuer. "The prototype Curse Seal that I used on you was never completed, you are not capable of advancing so far into… evolution."

"It seems that you are not the only one familiar with your sealing technique," Anko answered, the tight corridor did not offer much space for her wings, not like she could fly in the first place, but beating the wings helped her to move faster. Stopping suddenly, pulling down her collar and standing aside, she showed Orochimaru the completed seal. "How's that? Someone completed it for me."

"Hmph, Hakkotsu. She's the only one who's familiar with my works, and capable of finishing what I have begun. Incredible, you are as beautiful as I have hoped you to be."

"You always have such lousy taste," Anko answered disappointedly, "Orochimaru-sama."

"So, are we going to fight, Anko-kun," Orochimaru asked, a hint of regret in his voice.

"I changed into this to fight you, and of course I will, Orochimaru-sama!" Anko said, spinning around to flee once more, leading Orochimaru into an isolated area of the tower that had enough space for her to use her new abilities effectively.

Anko burst through the wall, arriving at an area little accessed, and was in such a rundown state that one side of the wall had collapsed, revealing the lush thick canopy. Exposed to the outside world, the room was overgrown with various degrees of vegetation and moss.

The wings growing off at her elbows acted as another extra limbs, the body was too heavy, making it incapable of flight, thus the feathers were made to resemble razor-sharp blades instead. Spinning around, the right wing hooked onto a foot wide stone brick, hurling it at Orochimaru.

A pair of snake slithered out of his sleeves, crushing the brick easily with their fanged jaws. As the dust cloud blinded him momentarily, Anko dashed into attacking range, her wings extended out front.

Opening his jaws, Orochimaru pulled out again the same long blade that he used before to counter Anko's wings. Pushing her against the wall, Orochimaru continued by spewing acid from his mouth.

Cornered against the wall, Anko stretched out her wings, blocking the acid splash. Her vision blocked by her own wings, Anko failed to notice Orochimaru swinging his sword down. Senses enhanced by the curse, Anko detected the sudden movement, and kicked Orochimaru away, causing him to disappear into a puff of smoke.

"Kage Bunshin?" Anko growled, though not surprised, considering who she was fighting against after all.

"Up here," Orochimaru teased.

Looking up, Anko saw Orochimaru hanging onto the ceiling, his hands reached out to cup her cheeks, before flinging her against the wall in a mighty swing. Before Anko could get up, snakes broke open through the wall and flooring, sinking their fangs down onto her flesh, chaining her to the wall.

Dropping down onto the floor, Orochimaru hurled his prized sword at Anko. Unable to move or dodge, she was surprised to find Orochimaru's aim missed by a huge margin, taking the chance while Orochimaru was still deciding to whether to kill her or not, Anko quickly used her wings as blades to cut away the snakes. Grabbing what she thought to be the hilt of his sword, the blade instantly turned into a slimy snake. Plucking the snake from the wall, she tossed it aside.

"Even with this, I am no match to you?" Anko said, looking down at her clawed hands.

"Relaying on your new skills… what happened to all the techniques that I taught you? Have you really forgotten them all, Anko?" Orochimaru said while taking a step at a time towards the kunoichi, until he was just one step away. Feeling no resistance, Orochimaru lifted Anko's chin with his fingers, looking into the brown eyes.

"I…"

"Why are you fighting me," Orochimaru asked all of the sudden, emotionless at its best. "Join me…"

"Enough talk!" Releasing razor-sharp feathers at Orochimaru, she managed to cuts him in various places now that he let down his guard. Anko sprung back into action, cutting Orochimaru with the claws on her hands and feet.

Both fighters retreated as they prepared their next attack, Anko tried to charge her attack, granting them a more damaging effect, but Orochimaru attacked too soon, cancelling her charge. The two of them fought on, and even with Anko at her best stage, she could not match his speed or strength.

Forcing her onto the ground, Orochimaru kneeled on her wings, preventing her from using her claws or wings at him. Using the sheer strength in her legs, she forced herself to stand upright, rising slowly from the floor, pushing the surprised Orochimaru up.

"So you would not forgive me…"

Anko jumped at him with her wings upfront before her, but Orochimaru quickly grabbed the blunt edge of her wings, pulling them apart before kicking at Anko in the stomach with both legs.

"I'm disappointed, you are no difficult than that old man, I expected so much more out of you," Orochimaru hissed, walking towards the downed kunoichi, who was holding onto her stomach, her transformation reversing due to her lack of chakra remaining in her body.

While transforming halfway, footsteps were heard, coming towards them. The two of them looked at the entrance to the room, then at each other. "Looks like our game is over," Orochimaru said regretfully, walking towards the sound of the footsteps.

"What are you doing?! From the sound of it, the Hokage brought reinforcement, can you really beat them all?!"

"What?" Orochimaru asked curiously. "Are you concern about my wellbeing?"

"No… It's just that…," Anko mumbled as she pushed herself up, using her last remaining chakra reserved, Anko temporarily into her first stage form, with the pattern of the Curse Seal duplicating itself all over her body.

Sensing the sudden revival of the Curse Seal, Orochimaru spun around quickly, expecting an attack from Anko. Using her newfound strength, Anko grabbed the shocked Orochimaru by his arm, and flung him out of the room, through the hole in the wall connecting this room to the outside forest.

At this instant, the Hokage and the two Jounins entered the room, with Anko's back facing them, reverting back into her normal self.

"Anko!" Asuma approached the girl as Ibiki quickly went to the hole, looking around for sign of Orochimaru.

"He fled?" Ibiki asked, just as Anko slipped into unconsciousness.

Looking at the sleeping Anko, the Hokage sighed. "Come, let's go."

Orochimaru hung onto the edge of the wall a little while longer, using the time of being alone to think back on what happened. Not just of Anko, but on Akatsuki as a while, it soon became apparent to Orochimaru that he was abandoned, was his personal pursue towards his goal deemed to be too much of a nuisance to deal with? It seemed to him that his quest caused him to lose everything… Looking up, wondering if anyone will appear, to peek over to see if he was still there, Orochimaru let go of his grip, allowing him to drop down into the darkness.

* * *

**- Author's Note -**

Ahem, I screwed up. In the original manga/anime story, Orochimaru has a sword called Kusanagi, which is based on a real Japanese katana. Here's the fun part: I created Jingi Kagetsu based on the three Japanese sacred treasures, which one of them is Kusanagi no Tsurugi, and I only realised about my mistake very recently. It is too late for me to change Kagetsu's weapons, and since they are all conveniently named for me already, I decided to make Orochimaru's sword nameless instead of changing the names of Kagetsu's three weapons. As of now, Kagetsu's weapons have a greater impact on the storyline than Orochimaru's sword, thus this decision will stay. Thousand apologies.

**- Glossary -**

**#1 :: Kaze no Yaiba** – Wind Sword, as named, summoned a wind sword on one hand.**  
#2 :: Mikazuki no Mai** – Dance of the Crescent Moon, teleport from one location to another, each comes with a slash.**  
#3 :: Jinshi no Jutsu** – Earthquake Technique, slamming both fists to the ground to create a quake.**  
#4 :: Katachidzukuru Dojou no Jutsu** – To Mould Soil Technique, alter the shape of earth-based structure for limited time.**  
#5 :: Mikazuki no Tenbatsu** – Fire-based sword technique, I forgot what's the meaning of the name.**  
#6 :: Yata no Kagami** – First mentioned in chapter 24, the mirror Kagetsu used to tell the future, is one of the three sacred weapons. Only useable by a Jingi bloodline.**  
#7 :: Kusanagi no Tsurugi** – Along with Yata no Kagami (mirror) and Yasakani no Magatama (necklace consists of two parts), are Kagetsu's three sacred weapons.  
**#8 :: Massaki and Miyuki** – At the current stage of the story, they are still minor character, but when it is truly their turn to fight, I promise you that I will describe them out better. I will also mould their character and relationship better as time goes on.  
**#9 :: Dai Kamaitachi no Jutsu** – Great Slashing Wind Technique, more powerful version of Kamitachi no Jutsu.  
**#10 :: Kaiten** – Heavenly Spin.  
**#11 :: Kage Bunshin no Jutsu** – Shadow Clone Technique, as opposed to canon story, Sasuke has Kage Bunshin, not Naruto.  
**#12 :: Ryuuka no Jutsu** - Dragon Fire Technique, very strong, dragon-shaped flame.  
**#13 :: Chidori** – Originally named Raikiri, Lightning Blade, but others have eventually adopted a new name for this technique: Chidori, Thousand Birds.  
**#14 :: Suna no Tate** – Shield of the Sand.  
**#15 :: Suna no Yoroi** – Armour of the Sand.  
**#16 :: Jishakukei** – Magnetic Whip.  
**#17 :: Chouryuu Shindou** – Tidal Shock.  
**#18 :: Nanka Kishi** – Pumpkin Knight.


	45. Jingi Kagetsu, Part II

**Act 7: Howls of the Beasts  
Chapter 45: Jingi Kagetsu (II)  
**Updated on: 12 September, 2007

* * *

The ward was shared between the Leaf girls: Haku and Hinata; and visiting Hinata were her instructor and friend: Kurenai and Shino. Upon arriving, they were curious to not find Shikamaru or Chouji, but that thought did not remain long, as checking on Hinata's condition was more important.

The two of them stayed by her bed a little while longer than they expected, silently expressing concern over the usually weaker girl. Haku, who was kept awake by the pain all over her body, could only pretend to be asleep, feeling a little awkward and out of place.

Satisfied with what they saw, Kurenai and Shino stood up from the stools they were on eventually. Kurenai waved at Haku, while Shino bowed his head slightly at Haku before the two of them departed from the room.

"Now, where's Kiba?" Kurenai asked to no one in particular, not really expecting Shino to answer her. She knew the boy long enough to know that he would not answer unless he had to, since he naturally had no idea which ward Kiba was put in.

As expected, Shino remained silent, but for another reason. Looking around him, he was curious to find their surroundings somewhat… changed? Unable to determine what was wrong, Shino remained in his position. It was a lot quieter, and Kurenai noticed it as well.

For a short moment, Shino surveyed the surrounding carefully, as if sensing the presences of many watching their every move. "Wait here, Shino-kun," Kurenai said suddenly, breaking Shino's concentration. Moving away from the boy, Kurenai treaded carefully along the corridor.

Suddenly, two shinobi burst through the walls from both sides attacking Kurenai, but before Shino could even react, the two shinobi in grey uniform passed through Kurenai and stabbed one another, falling over dead.

"Come, let's go," the familiar voice of his Jounin teacher said suddenly. Surprised, Shino looked at beside him and saw his teacher standing at her original position before moving off. _"What a powerful genjutsu, to be able to trick not just me but the two shinobi as well!"_

Kneeling down besides the two corpses, Kurenai examined the two dead enemies, looking at their headband. "Sound-nins," the Jounin said, an expression of worries came over her face. "Shino-kun, you will stay here and look after the two of them, I will check to see if Kiba-kun is okay."

Speechless, Shino nodded slightly, watching the kunoichi walking over the two corpses, wondering if that was an illusion as well.

**x**

Standing in a cross junction, Chouji looked at the four directions he could take, knowing that no matter which path he chose to take, he would end up here anyway. Cursing at his inability to disperse the genjutsu illusion that was preventing him from escaping, he wondered how he could call for help if he was going to stuck here forever.

"Chouji-kun?" a voice called out. A form of an adult suddenly shimmered into existence. Turning around, he looked at the form of Yuuhi Kurenai. "What are you doing here? Idly standing here outside the washrooms?" she said curiously, looking around her, as if not even noticing the illusion placed on the boy.

"Yuuhi-sensei!" Chouji shouted. "Something is wrong with this place! It's haunted!"

Kurenai quickly heard the whole thing from the chubby boy, narrowing her eyes, thinking things through. Getting anyone to call for help would be useless, both Chouji was too weak in genjutsu to be able to break any illusions, yet there was no time to loose. "Come with me, stick close to me," Kurenai said, waving her hand about, as if shoving the illusion aside. True enough, the illusion wavered and shattered under Kurenai's interference. "Lead me there, quickly!"

**x**

"What does Sakura-chan has to do with all these?" Ino begged, pulling on the doctor robe that Tako was still wearing, pulling herself closer to the older man. "What do you mean?! Wasn't Naruto-kun our only goal?!"

"Naruto-kun… is your mission," Tako answered, looking back at the girl with unrivalled amusement. "If you really think that we are just after one boy for all this trouble, you must be mistaken, Naruto-kun is merely the key to a greater puzzle."

"It can't be… What are you guys up? Already you asked me to kidnap a boy, now, how can I let them take Sakura-chan away from me!"

"'You guys'? Hahaha, you are part of us now. I honestly don't get what she sees in you, you are no better than that Mizuki."

"Big brother!"

"Really, both of you are really incompetence sometimes, never being able to see the bigger picture."

"I will not let you insult my brother's name!" Ino warned, wrapping her hands around the waist of Tako, parting her lower lip to reveal the seal craved onto her tongue. **(#1)**

"Planning to die, girl?" Tako teased, aware of the situation yet not at all afraid of the technique Ino was planning to use. This technique was after all created specially to defeat Naruto, and was powerful enough to defeat Gaara at point blank range. "Perhaps it's time for me to take back that power of yours."

Pulling out a surgical knife from his left pocket, Tako forcefully opened Ino's mouth, using his right thumb to push her chin down, while inserting all four fingers into her mouth, pressing down hard on her tongue. Chocking violently while trying to resist his actions, Ino watched as Tako prepared to cut off her tongue.

Tako halted upon suddenly sensing someone calling upon his chakra, he looked below his feet to find the area he was standing on was slowing turning black.

"Senjin Anaboko no Jutsu **(#2)**!"

Letting Ino go, Tako swiftly flipped backwards, landing a few feet back, nearer to the door of the room, narrowly escaping the fully-formed trap. **(#2)**

Pulling on the curtains, Shikamaru forced himself into a standing position, ignoring the headache brought to him by Ino.

"Run, Ino!" Shikamaru yelled.

"Shikamaru-kun…," Ino murmured the name quietly, frightened of him knowing her association with the enemies.

"Fool! What are you still doing here?! I will hold him here, run with Naruto!" Shikamaru ordered while quickly forming the seals of his trademark skill, Kagemane no Jutsu **(#3)**!

Tako offered no resistance, allowing himself to be captured. Alarmed at his confidence, Shikamaru soon found out for himself why Tako was still so calm after falling into his Kagemane. Shikamaru took a step forward just as Tako took a step forward, widening his eyes in shock, he realised that his body was captured by the enemy instead of the other way round!

"Your trick is too weak for me, kid," Tako said, making Shikamaru walked towards him just as he approached Ino. Looking at the girl, "If you even dare to think about escaping, I will kill this boy right here."

_"What?! I can't… move! I got to disengage! But how if I can't… control my own body?!"_

With the Senjin Anaboko no Jutsu still in effect, Tako made Shikamaru walked towards the three-foot wide bottomless pit.

"No! Let him go! I beg of you!" Ino pleaded. "I will follow your orders! Please let him go!"

"No, Ino! Don't do as he said!"

Looking at the girl, as if considering her proposal, Tako smiled. "Fine, take the boy, we are leaving. Taking a few more steps, Tako aligned Shikamaru's stretched shadow to intercept the hole made by Senjin Anaboko no Jutsu, and immediately disengage the Kagemane from his side. With Kagemane still in effect from Shikamaru's end, his shadow was now caught in the vortex on the ground, still paralysed as he was unable to control back his body.

Ino walked passed Shikamaru's paralysed body, towards the sleeping Naruto. The girl nervously diverted her glance away from Shikamaru.

"Babun Baika no Jutsu **(#4)**!"

_"What?!"_ Spinning around, he watched as the door exploded inwards with a single punch, sending splinters and fragments at him. At the opening of the door, stood Chouji and Kurenai.

With the boy expressing his concern towards Shikamaru and Ino by shouting out their names, the Jounin instructor immediately dashed passed Chouji and challenged Tako into a fight.

Even before Tako could get near Kurenai, the earth rumbled and sprouted out roots trying to grab onto Tako. Stomping his foot at the ground, he swiftly dispersed the genjutsu just as he came into attacking range at the surprised Jounin.

"Genjutsu of this level is of no effect to me," Tako said as he attacked Kurenai.

Running by the two of them, Chouji quickly got the sides of Shikamaru and Ino, "Ino-chan, what are you doing here?!"

Ino was unable to find the words to explain her presence here, but Shikamaru quickly saved her. "No time for that, Chouji, I am stuck within my own jutsu, you will need to get the two of them out of here!" Shikamaru said, looking at Naruto then at Ino.

"What about you?" Ino asked.

"Don't worry about me, once Kurenai-sensei is finished with him, I will be all right," Shikamaru reassured them.

"Okay," Chouji answered, taking Ino's hand in his, he led her over to Naruto's bed. "Come, Ino-chan, we are leaving."

"Oh no, you don't!"

"What?!" Chouji and Ino looked at the originator of the voice in shock. Smashing through the windows, two familiar faces reappeared before them.

"You… Tsuchi Kin," Shikamaru cursed. Upon entering the room, the girl known as Tsuchi removed her grey spotted scarf around her neck, mouthing the words 'we meet again' silently at the immobile Shikamaru before preparing herself for Chouji.

"Hey, don't forget about me," Kankurou said. The package on his back unravelled by itself, removing the bandage to reveal a six-armed wooden puppet, its lower jaw yelping up and down as if trying to laugh.

"What's this? The Sound and the Sand? Allying with the enemy?" Kurenai questioned as she quickly dodged a blow from Tako. The room was becoming too crowded for anyone to fight well, and with limited space, Kurenai had to turn to taijutsu now that genjutsu proved to be useless against Tako.

"Now, don't get distracted," Tako warned, using surgical scalpels as his weapons, he moved swiftly, cutting Kurenai.

_"Indeed, I can't get distracted now, this guy is a speed demon, the speed he's moving at is incredible! He's been using nothing but knives, what tricks does he have up his sleeves?! There's no room for me to fight back, I need to do something about this!"_

Slamming her palms together, Kurenai called forth a summoning jutsu and instantly, tree roots sprouted from beneath her feet, pushing forward towards Tako.

"Hmm, not a genjutsu?" Tako mumbled, watching as the growing plant tear through both the flooring and the ceilings. Naruto's bed was toppled over as Shikamaru's Kage Kuuhaku no Jutsu was nullified by the tree root. Carrying Ino by the waist, he quickly made his escape by jumping out of the window. "Chouji, run for it!"

"Hey, what the hell?!" Kankurou shouted as he turned around watching Shikamaru fled, suddenly he started losing his footings due to the unsteady ground, and failed to see a thick tree branch coming his way, knocking him back out of the window he came from. Kin was slightly more agile, but was soon pushed out of the room as well by the expanding size of the tree that was now growing from within the room.

As it became apparent that the room was going to be crashed from the inside, he turned and tried to grab Naruto. Chouji tried to intercept Tako but another tree root came up from behind him, and kicked him out of the room into the wilderness outside as well.

With no time to spare, Kurenai slide-kicked Tako, successfully knocking the doppelganger off his feet, before quickly turning around to grab Naruto from the floor. Quickly getting up, Tako watched as Kurenai followed the others by jumping out of the hole created from the tree she summoned.

Down below, Kin landed gracefully onto her feet, cursing at her luck, hearing a yell from above, she naturally looked up, only to see Chouji falling above her.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH! HELP ME!" Chouji screamed.  
"AHHHHHHHHHHHH! HOLY FAT SHIT!" Kin screamed.

High up above the two knocked-outs, Kankurou used his chakra string to swing out of danger, landing on the opposite end of Shikamaru, with Ino who was now kicking and punching, protesting to let her down. Ignoring the commotion, Tako leapt down, following Kurenai, keeping the kunoichi in his sight at all times. From the distance, he noticed Naruto stirring, beginning to wake up from his sleeping jutsu.

"Ahh, what happened…," Naruto murmured while rubbing his aching head.

"Good question, Naruto-kun," Kurenai answered, swinging the boy off her shoulder, she put him onto his feet. "Capable of looking after yourself?" Kurenai asked, but without waiting for a reply, she turned and threw kunai at Tako.

"That bastard!" Naruto yelled, recognising 'Doctor Kane' immediately, recalling Tako knocking him unconscious.

Tako dived headfirst onto the tree branch the two of them were standing on. The shock knocked Kurenai off her feet, causing her to fall, but using a jutsu, she quickly recovered by making another tree branch to move in to break her fall. Naruto had a lower centre of gravity and survived the shockwave, though he landed backwards onto his butt.

As the dust subsided, Tako emerged from the dust cloud, appearing fine and unscratched.

A voice came from the back of his head, it was Kagetsu calling him using the mental speak ability he taught her, "_Tako, we are leaving."_

"Kin! Kankurou!" Tako tried to regroup, but realised that it was fruitless as the three of them were separated too far apart to be of any use, not like they were worth saving anyway.

Kankurou was having the upper hand in his battle with Shikamaru, but not realising the trap Shikamaru had been laying for him while he ran around the trees. Using correctly implanted artificial shadows, he managed to catch Kankurou with his Kagemane. Though most of his body was paralysed, Kankurou could still move his fingertips, making his puppet moving towards the surprised Shikamaru.

Ino dashed into position, cutting in between the two of them, opening her mouth, once again trying to use her main attacking ability. From Shikamaru's position, he could only see something glowing from within Ino's mouth before the puppet exploded in pieces suddenly. **(#1)** However, the battle was not over as some sort of inbuilt trap was activated at the moment of the puppet's death.

"Ino!" Shikamaru shouted, seeing needles being sent towards at Ino's direction. Too slow to move, Ino received the full punishment. Carelessly releasing his Kagemane no Jutsu, Kankurou was free to move now, irritated at the lost of his puppet, but before he could move on to attack Shikamaru, something round and heavy crashed right behind him.

Both boys looked up in surprised, though only one of them recognised Gaara's sphere of sand. The sphere opened up completely, revealing Gaara and the unconscious Temari.

"Temari! What happened?!" the shocked Kankurou shouted at seeing Temari's injuries.

"We are leaving," Gaara merely said.

Without even looking at Shikamaru and Ino, Kankurou caught his sister as Gaara released his hands around her.

Whispering to his older brother, Gaara quietly said, "Take Temari away."

"What about you?"

"I still have something to do, I will follow shortly."

Unhappy about the decision made by Gaara, Kankurou frowned, nevertheless Kankurou followed Gaara's wish. Taking Temari onto his arms, he fled into the woods, while Gaara enveloped back inside a sphere of sand, before suddenly shooting himself back up into the sky.

Seeing the threats gone, Shikamaru examined Ino's injuries, realising he could do nothing for her, he looked around for Kurenai and Chouji instead. He found Chouji battling the Sound girl, who appeared a bit grumpy, probably because at being landed on.

Chouji seemed to be holding onto the battle well, switching his body size rapidly to accommodate the situation, at he times he would expand to attack, and contract to his normal size to dodge something.

Seeing Kankurou's fleeing the scene and Kin's inability to handle even a boy like Chouji, Tako snorted at his luck. Kurenai resumed her position between Naruto and Tako, but suddenly another individual leapt down from above. With her katana drawn, Kagetsu prepared to cut her in half.

"Look out!" Kurenai shouted, pushing Naruto aside as she dodged Kagetsu's attack. Kagetsu missed and sliced the tree branch they were standing on in half instead. As the tree fell from the damage, Tako tried to grab Naruto while Kurenai was distracted by Kagetsu, but suddenly, yet another individual appeared out of nowhere.

Blocking his punch, Tako cursed at Hakkotsu's interference.

"What's this?" Tako questioned at the situation, just as Kagetsu appeared equally surprised, only just realising that Hakkotsu had followed her from the arena.

"It doesn't matter," Kagetsu mouthed as she and Tako stood back-to-back. "That pearl is within Naruto now, right? As long as I have my Yasakani no Magatama, I can control him anytime, we will run for now, Tako."

"Oh no, you don't!" Kurenai shouted, challenging the couple one more time, though not knowing who the armoured kunoichi was, she figured that she was by their side considering she saved Naruto. As expected, Hakkotsuki decided to join in as well, the two kunoichi decided to attack the weaker of the two together. Seeing Kagetsu being targeted, Tako jumped into action, blocking Hakkotsu's sound-induced punch with his body while throwing kunai at Kurenai.

"Run, Kagetsu!" Tako shouted knowing that he might not be able to handle both of them together, true to be told, he might not be able to handle Hakkotsu even if she was alone.

Seeing Kagetsu preparing to flee, Hakkotsu fired off her jutsu at them without caring about Kurenai within her firing range. "Gesshoku Suzumebachi **(#5)**!"

"Look out!" Naruto shouted as he jumped in to pull the surprised Kurenai out of the harm's way, just in time to see multiple glowing sparks materialising before Hakkotsu. The sparks of lightning shot off at Tako and Kagetsu at remarkable speed.

"Lightning techniques, you have recovered your memories?" Tako cursed as he dodged with his devilish speed, grabbing Kagetsu by the hand and escaping with her.

Seeing the two of them escaping by jumping down, Hakkotsu proceeded onto the next attack, "Butou Kairai **(#6)**."

Kurenai only just recovered from Hakkotsu's attack before looking down at where Tako and Kagetsu fled. "No! Ino-chan and Shikamaru-kun are down there as well!"

Naruto gave the surrounding a quick look, seeing for himself that the female Jounin was right, but even as Kurenai tried to stop Hakkotsu from firing the next attack, her injuries only forced her back down onto her knees whenever she tried to stand up. Though not really understanding the full grasp of the situation, he understood more or less that the fighting here was because of him somehow, even if Ino and Shikamaru were nothing more than strangers to him, he would never be able to live on with the guilt of knowing that he caused their deaths. Taking upon himself to stop Hakkotsu, he quickly dashed off towards Hakkotsu, but he was too late as Hakkotsu gathered the necessary static charge in the air, and rained lightning bolts down onto Tako and Kagetsu.

Down below them, Tako looked up in horror, seeing that no matter how fast he was, he could not dodge an attack while stranded in midair. Meanwhile, Kagetsu had a more worrying thought in mind, she too had noticed the presences of Ino and Shikamaru below them, and knew that even if she was to block the full damage for herself, there would be bound to be some bolts that slip by her and hit Ino.

Kagetsu pulled her hand free from Tako's grasp, kicking Tako in midair, pushing him away from the line of fire, as she plunged downwards towards Ino.

"Ignore the girl!" Tako shouted as he was thrown out of the firing range.

Ignoring her partner's plea, Kagetsu landed right next to Ino and Shikamaru. The surprised Shikamaru was still unaware of what was coming towards them, and firmly believed that she was there to finish them off. Ignoring the threat and resistance Shikamaru was showing, Kagetsu lifted the two kids up onto her arms and flung them to one side with all her might.

The two kids rolled on the floor as Shikamaru wrapped his arms around Ino, trying to shelter the girl from anything that might hit her. Seeing the two of them out of range of attack, Kagetsu tried to flee, but realised soon enough that it was too late for her.

As death was soon apparent for Kagetsu, all of the sudden, a fireball the size of a head came flying in, intercepting the lightning bolts before exploding, engulfing all of the lightning bolts within the fire. **(#7)**

Surprised that her own lightning shower was put out by a single explosion, Hakkotsu and the others looked in the direction at where the fireball came from.

"What is… that?!" Naruto questioned, not believing what he saw: a blue-scaly creature was hanging upside down from another tree branch. Beside the fact that it was blue, the creature had no head, and instead had a one-foot wide fanged mouth attached to the abdomen. Its clawed feet hooked firmly onto the underside of the tree branch, there were also a huge eyeball attached to each shoulder, and with its elongated limbs, it looked like nothing on this world.

"Tako," Hakkotsu mouthed thankfully, expressing no sense of surprise at Tako's change of appearance.

Surprised, Kurenai and Naruto looked at the creature, wondering if that was really the Tako they fought with.

"Oh, Hakkotsu, do you have to be so heartless, we non-humans have to stick more closely together," the creature said. Somehow, it spoke even without the aid of a normal mouth (the mouth on his chest remained closed the whole time), sound travelled from the creature to their ears, as if telepathically.

"Spare me your pity, changeling," Hakkotsu said

"I never imagine myself having to be forced into fight while I am in this form, but I guess that is now unavoidable, what you just did, I will not forgive you."

"Come, and give me your best, changeling," Hakkotsu answered coldly in reply.

Though Hakkotsu wore a bone helmet, through the empty hollow eye-slots, Naruto could sense Hakkotsu looking back at him. Without wasting another second, Hakkotsu took a step forwards, letting herself to plunge down, shortening the distance between the hanging Tako and herself.

**x**

Sasuke followed Hakkotsu out of the arena, but unlike Kagetsu, Hakkotsu was very much aware of the boy following her, and deemed the time needed to remove the pest not worth the time, especially when Naruto was now in danger. Ignoring Sasuke, Hakkotsu increased her speed just as Kagetsu sped on faster and faster, sensing something was wrong at Tako's location.

In no time, even the genius Genin of the Leaf could not keep up to two kunoichi of their calibre, though he could pretty much guess at where they were heading to now. It did not take him long to confirm his suspicious, a loud explosion telling of a tree bursting out from the floor told him of their location. Picking up speed once again, he found ever-growing vegetation forcing their way out of collapsed rooms, tracing to the point of origin, he found the room with the most sustainable damage.

Finding the nearest room that was not destroyed by the tree, he looked down the windows, seeing people fighting, and instantly he recognised most of them, seeing Naruto and Kurenai, and further down, he saw Chouji, Shikamaru and… Ino.

"Ino?!" Sasuke shouted under his breath, his palms pressing against the glass windowpanes. Wave after wave of intense pain came over him, this time not from the back of his neck, but strangely from the sides of his head, as if his mind was trying to remember something that he had forgotten. With no time to lose, he pushed open the window frames, ignoring the headache, and leapt down.

Distracted by the pain, he had a rough landing, crashing through the thick canopy, he ended up rolling down a slope, rolling away from the fighting. Picking himself up, he quickly climbed over the gentle slope, and now the Curse Seal on his neck was beginning to hurt as well, sensing the bloodlust and strong chakra emitted by the various fighters fighting in the distance.

With both the headache and the Curse Seal constantly pounding on him, he was in no position to help anyone, but nevertheless moved on ever so valiantly, determined to do something about someone. Only the strong burned image of Ino remained in his mind as he climbed towards the others mindlessly, all thoughts removed, he was almost moving on instinct alone.

He had met her since he realised, before this, he realised, yet everything seemed so foreign. They met after their fight, Sasuke seemed to recall, but more importantly, Ino was Aoi, and Aoi was Ino. With everything suddenly returned to him, the headache stopped, yet it only hurt more in his heart, cursing at his failure to even remember her.

With all this in his mind swirling around, playing with his emotions, it was no wonder that he reacted so violently at the sight of the Sound Jounin approaching the unconscious Ino. It was _her_ after all, who came up from behind him, tapping him on the forehead and did something to make him forgot about his meeting with Ino. Cursing silently to himself, he moved faster and faster, drawing out a kunai from his belt pouch.

With her hair falling over her face, the exhausted Kagetsu crawled slowly to Ino's side, lifting the equally knocked-out Shikamaru away from Ino, the Jounin examined Ino's wounds. Relieved to find no life-threatening wounds, she failed to notice Sasuke approaching her faster and faster with killing intent.

However, at the very last instant, at where Sasuke was almost within the killing distance, Kagetsu's battle instinct took over, immediately drawing out her katana, she deflected his blow, sending the puny kunai flying away from his hand. Without even waiting for him to react, she counter-attacked by immediately, slashing him diagonally across his chest with her blade.

Recovered from the shock of almost losing her dear apprentice, Kagetsu stood back up onto her feet, proud and deadly once more. Recognising the boy instantly, she gave Ino a brief look before making a quick decision to remove his existence from the girl once and for all.

The warm blood from Sasuke's body wound fell onto Ino's face, tasting the unpleasant taste in her mouth, Ino stirred from the unconsciousness she fell into. The first thing she saw was Kagetsu walking over her, revealing her back to the girl, wearing her Sound-nin Jounin costume painted black and with a cloak. Then, from the corner of her eyes, she saw the presence of another, a boy with black hair and blue shirt, he was grabbing onto his neck as if something was biting it.

Determined to win this fight, Sasuke's body subconsciously activated his undeveloped Sharingan eyes on its own. The Curse Seal on his neck could almost be considered as a double-edged sword, though now it was still giving him a great deal of pain, it was almost beginning to numb him, both the slash wound on his body and his heart. Right now, he felt like he could move faster if he wanted to, the Curse Seal was granting him inhuman strength and courage, maybe just enough to fight the Sound Jounin before him.

A fight between the two most important person in her life was about to begin, and yet here she was, lying weak with no strength to even to call out their names. Her one hand crawled towards Kagetsu, trying to stop the Jounin from killing Sasuke, but suddenly, the Missing-nin took a step forwards towards Sasuke.

The Curse Seal screamed in Sasuke's head, just as he howled its terrible wrath at Kagetsu, displaying its demonic chakra aura. For a while, Kagetsu hesitated, feeling that such power should not be left untamed.

Ino crawled with one hand towards Kagetsu, trying to stop the fight. In Kagetsu's state of agitation, she failed to notice the girl behind her silently calling out her name. Likewise for Sasuke, so deep was his cursed rage, that he had lost himself, forgetting the reason to fight, only wanting to stain his hands with blood. His Sharingan eyes started spinning faster, until the two dots in each eye became three, unconsciously releasing his fully developed Sharingan eye.

Kagetsu immediately attacked the boy, aiming for his vital organs with her sword. At the moment of heightened senses, Sasuke analysed all moves he knew, realising he knew no techniques that could stop her slashing attack fast enough.

_"Chidori."_

Blue lightning formed in one of his hands, in imitation of what he saw Kakashi did with his. However, no matter how fast he was, he realised it would not be fast enough to save his life as Kagetsu's katana came swinging down, threatening to split him apart.

"No!" Ino screamed, her left hand finally reaching Kagetsu, pulling onto the end of her cloak. Surprised, Kagetsu turned to see Ino sprawling on her ground, pulling her away from Sasuke.

It was all he needed, and it was over immediately. With his Chidori fully formed, Sasuke ran his newly copied technique through Kagetsu's unguarded body. Dropping onto her knees, with her face still facing Ino, Kagetsu let go of her katana, and fell backwards near Ino's body. Fully spent, Sasuke collapsed as well, exhausted and bleeding very badly.

Meanwhile, tears swelled up from Ino's eyes, watching Kagetsu smiling at her even when her death was so close pained her heart. Reaching into her cloak, Kagetsu used her remaining strength to pull out a necklace with a comma-shaped jewel with a single hole in the centre at where pearl was used to be. Without saying anything, she put it in Ino's hand, and closed it, patting it to make sure it was safe with her. Believing that as long as Ino had this with her, she would be useful to Akatsuki, thus they wouldn't kill her once she was dead.

Kagetsu's death did not go unnoticed, Tako screamed, with the fanged jaws implanted on his chest, howling a cry of pain in his heart. Hakkotsu closed in on him, showing no mercy or pity, wanting to end this forever. Enraged with renewed hatred, Tako dashed at Hakkotsu, lifting her up with inhuman strength, and tossed her aside like a wooden marionette.

Ignoring everything happening around him, Tako leapt to Kagetsu's side. Ino was nowhere to be seen, but Tako wasn't looking for her. Blood was on her lips, and her eyes were closed, but a serene smile could be seen on her face. The thought of revenging was not on his mind as he lifted Kagetsu's body up, and walked over Sasuke's body. Dazed, Tako walked aimlessly into the darkness provided by the overgrown forest.

Oddly enough, Hakkotsu did not choose to pursue, instead choosing to clutch onto her hollow chest, pressing against the invisible wound in her body, as if something else was hurting her. _"That kind of love… is something I won't be able to feel ever again…" _She turned to look at Naruto, and only at Naruto, ignoring Kurenai who jumped down to take a look at Shikamaru. Knowing her limit, Hakkotsu knew she was short of time, the pearl inside Naruto's body must be removed at once!

Kurenai arrived at Shikamaru's side, finding only a bump on his head, probably got it when he fell. Looking around, he found Chouji exhausted and conscious, probably chasing that Kin girl away with his taijutsu drained him of all energy. Finally, Kurenai looked at Sasuke, a moment of shock overcame her, watching as strange black patterns slowly retreating from all over his body back to behind his neck. Rolling Sasuke over, Kurenai witnessed the Curse Seal on him.

It was at this time that Kakashi dropped down from above, late enough to miss out all the actions, he only came in time to witness Hakkotsu dragging Naruto off somewhere into the darkness. Unable to catch up to Hakkotsu, Kakashi was caught in a difficult position, whether to pursue Naruto, or to help with the current situation. Somehow, something told him that Hakkotsu would not harm Naruto, so he left it at that.

Recognising the familiar presence, Kurenai did not response to Kakashi's appearance, looking around, she tried to look for Naruto, who was stolen right under their noses again. However, Naruto was not the only that was missing, curiously enough, Ino had chose to flee from the scene, leaving the two Jounins to ponder on what to do next.

* * *

**- Glossary -**

**#1 :: Himei no Jutsu** – Ino's ultimate technique, given to her by Orochimaru.  
**#2 :: Senjin Anaboko no Jutsu **– A trap technique that turns the ground into a temporary bottomless hole, victims will be returned upon timer expires.  
**#3 :: Kagemane no Jutsu** – Shadow Imitation Technique.  
**#4 :: Babun Baika no Jutsu** – Partial Multi-size Technique.  
**#5 :: Gesshoku Suzumebachi** – Rapid forward lightning attacks, thought the weakest of all lightning jutsu Hakkotsu has with her, this attack is hard to dodge due to its wide-spread covering range and speed.  
**#6 :: Butou Kairai** – Area of effect type of attack, rain lightning onto the victims.  
**#7 :: Bakuretsu Zanshu** – Exploding Head, Tako's unique ability (not a jutsu, but a demon power) that explodes a thrown head, but will nullify Tako's disguise.


	46. Hatake Kakashi, Part II

**Act 7: Howls of the Beasts  
Chapter 46: Hatake Kakashi (II)  
**Updated on: 12 September, 2007

* * *

Kakashi arrived too late, and this time, there was no excuse from him. He not only failed to catch up with Kagetsu and Hakkotsu, he also made the decision of telling Sasuke to split up so that they could search faster. He did not think that it would matter whether he or Sasuke was to find them first, but he now wondered if he had stayed with Sasuke back then, this might not have happened. This would be Sasuke's first killing, Kakashi had prayed that his students would not have to stain their hands so early in life. Kakashi could feel that this particular fight would leave behind a scar, not just in Sasuke, but in Ino as well. Kakashi surveyed the surroundings, Ino left no trace of her whereabouts.

Finally, there was the matter regarding Naruto. Kakashi arrived freefalling, just in time to witness Hakkotsu taking Naruto away, unable to change his direction in time, he soon lost the two of them as they disappeared around the corner. However, regardless of that, Kakashi was sure that Hakkotsu would take good care of Naruto.

As Kurenai tended to the injured children, Kakashi suddenly turned his attention towards the opposite direction at where Hakkotsu fled.

"Kakashi, that dead Akatsuki said something is inside Naruto, I will take care of the kids, you go chase him!"

Without waiting for a reply, Kurenai picked up Sasuke, who among the three was the most injured and disappeared immediately. The sleeping Chouji and the unharmed Shikamaru were already placed lying the wall of the tower and hidden by the bushes, so that Kurenai could came back to pick them later.

Something told Kakashi that something was about to happen over at where he was looking. A dark ominous cloud was gathering, mass chakra presence could be felt, or were these just illusions, tricks played on the mind?

"Something is not right here," Kakashi answered hesitantly to himself. Lifting his forehead protector off his left eye, he peered into the darkness with his Sharingan activated. _"Are you telling me something, Ayu?"_

Kakashi took quick steps without wasting any second, springing from the ground to a tree branch. Travelling among the canopies, he leapt with haste towards the area where his instinct told him that he might find something worthwhile, possibly something more important to him than Naruto, Sakura or Ino. A fate he could no longer escape.

What Kakashi did not know, was who he would find.

**x**

_An hour ago…_

It was already in the late afternoon when Jiraiya was finally ready to leave, there were many things to see to, like finding the guilty shinobi who stole the Forbidden Scroll right under their noses. The Jounins were in a panic, the ANBUs were already gone searching _everywhere_, and Jiraiya was worried. Something was telling him that he should check on the Hokage's position as soon as possible, much were at risk over there, not just their leader, who had led them through many hardships, but many future leaders of their Hidden Village.

"Have the defences around Konohagakure being executed as I requested? Have the villagers evacuated into shelters already?" Jiraiya asked out of nowhere, at the hidden masked ANBU hiding in the shadow behind him.

"The students are now within the shelters, all adults are asked to be on standby for any emergency," a masked voice answered, still very well hidden from sight.

"Once the medical team is ready to move out, lead them to my position," Jiraiya said again, this time walking off in the direction of the nearest windows.

The ANBU said nothing, only stepping back to fade into the shadows, disappearing as suddenly as he appeared. Jiraiya did not need to look back to know that the ANBU had left the room, feeling that he should too, he put one foot on the parapet of the windows, leaning out, he jumped out of the building, using chakra to move through the air unnaturally. Landing at the nearest rooftop, he hopped from one rooftop to another, towards Practice Area 44.

It did not take him long to find the place, the single patch of a forest sprung out from the middle of a large field, again surrounded by civilisation. Travelling the dark forest, he took note of the behaviour of the wild beasts, they were disturbed, as if something were silently shaking their home habitant upside-down, and the wild beasts could not keep calm, and attacked him a few times before he shook off their presences.

Spotting an injured Genin tied up in vines, he hesitated to stop and look. One should be expecting injured Genins all over the place, but he recognised this one, he wore the same as the Green Beast of Konohagakure. The one who was tied up was none other than Rock Lee, student of Maito Gai! Jiraiya knew enough to know that Lee should more or less have a chance reaching the tower by now, and the position at which the conscious boy was in was unnatural.

"Boy, wake up," Jiraiya slapped Lee's cheeks softly, slowly rousing the boy from his uneasy sleep. "Boy, what happened?"

"Grr…," Lee muttered, swinging slightly, still tied onto the vines, he muttered something unintelligent, before slowly opening his eyes. "Big… old… man…"

Not amused by Lee's description of him, Jiraiya glowed red, "Fine, you can stay there, boy."

"Haha, he was probably warning you about me," a voice said all of the sudden, shocked at someone being able to creep up behind him, Jiraiya spun around to meet his latest foe.

"That's boy was good, he managed to dodge most of my attacks, and even get to see a glimpse of my face before passing out," a shadowy figure said. Stepping out from his hiding place, the Akatsuki agent revealed himself.

"Oi! Who are you?!" Jiraiya shouted, examining the stranger. A brutish-looking man with a square face, well-toned muscles on his body, he was slightly larger than Jiraiya himself, wearing a black cloak with designs of red swirling clouds, Jiraiya suddenly arched his brows, recognising who the intruder was. "I see that you are still alive, Massaki. Though I can't say that I'm pleased with that, I always imagine you to be begging in some street by now since you are blinded."

Massaki smirked, his eyes were covered by a piece of white cloth, two simple doodles of what representing his eyes were drawn on it with red ink (or could it be dried blood?). His short and messy greying hair was still in abundance, with an equally bushy beard all over his face, exactly what you would expect from a wandering beggar.

"That Green Boy was trying to get help, I can't possibly have him do that, can I, Jiraiya-sama?" he asked, ignoring the rude comment made about his sight and pride.

"Oh, cut it with out the honorific, we are grown men now," Jiraiya answered almost half growling.

"Though by age, I am your senior, but by rank, you are after all a legendary Sennin… And I was only a mere Jounin back then."

"You have always been so modest about yourself, so humble, but always so eager to stab your enemies behind their backs. That brat told me all about your battle with him, and how you betrayed us."

" 'That brat'? Are you referring to Yondaime-sama? He was a fun lad, a pity that he's dead, it will be fun to show him how much I have improved since the three of them blinded me."

Clutching his fists, Jiraiya could not stand him speaking of his student so lightly. "Uchiha Massaki, for the sins you have committed, I will finish you right here."

This time it was Massaki who appeared surprised, "Oh, really? You think you can defeat me? I have surpassed many since, even Yondaime himself would find it difficult to win this time, that is if he was still alive."

Jiraiya understood that Massaki had something up his sleeves, he knew very well that the trio had blinded Massaki thirteen years ago, but yet he came back once again five years ago to take part in the second Uchiha Massacre, the event that wiped out the Uchiha clan, leaving him, Itachi, Sasuke and Kakashi as the sole survivors. Not many knew of the actual events that took place, and even fewer were told that about the truth that Itachi was not the only one involved in the Massacre. The Hokage and councilmen had agreed that it was probably best to leave out Massaki from the history book, already a legend due to his battle against Yondaime, Sandaime did not want people to panic from his 'return from the dead'. Nicknamed as the 'Original Uchiha Betrayer', Uchiha Massaki was almost forgotten from the worries of the commoners… Yet now, Massaki returned a second time like a nightmare.

Jiraiya never did fight with Massaki before, sure, he had 'friendly duel' with him before he turned against his own village, but somehow, Jiraiya always felt that Massaki was hiding his true strength. Thirteen years ago, he betrayed his own clan in hope of finding _the_ secret, and was forced to face off with the Fourth Hokage himself. Outmatched by Arashi, he sought to escape, but was quickly cornered by Hana and Kimiko. Together, the three of them blinded the older man, forcing him to flee as a changed man forever. No one was expecting him to return stronger than ever, no one expected him to take revenge against the Uchiha clan, massacring the whole clan five years ago, taking Itachi along with him into the darkness.

Lee was barely conscious when the two older men started exchanging blows, though not moving at a remarkable speed, the two men were experts in their trades, little energy was wasted in their movements, their attacks were efficient in term of the chakra cost and offensive capability, and both appeared to be equally matched.

However that was not true, Jiraiya was having problem matching up to Massaki's actions, each time he thought that he could outwit the Akatsuki Missing-nin with a surprise attack, Massaki appeared to be able to anticipate his move, and countered well, though he appeared to never bother with counterattacking whenever Jiraiya was caught off-guard by Massaki's tricks.

A minute into their fight, Jiraiya realised that though blind, Massaki could indeed see everything in clarity, if not better. Somehow, it felt like as if Massaki could see what was happening around him, the estimation of the distance between him and Jiraiya was accurate, and Massaki had never miss (though Jiraiya managed to block in most cases).

Feeling frustrated, Jiraiya decided to tempt Massaki into revealing his tricks. "Ah, that was relaxing, now that we have our warm ups, let's be serious, shall we?"

Massaki did not say much, putting on a grumpy smile and a short 'as you pleased'. Instantly, the two of them moved even faster, Jiraiya was still watching closely, trying to find out how though blinded (and blindfolded), could see his every moves.

Throwing a punch with his right fist, Massaki quickly used his left hand to pull out a dagger from behind his back.

_"A dagger?!"_

Jiraiya barely dodged it, as the dagger cut through his shirt and nicked his skin, drawing a thin string of blood on his right chest. Without stopping, Massaki continued fighting this way, taijutsu with the dagger in his left hand, but failed to cut Jiraiya for the next few moves. Retreating, Jiraiya decided that it was time to go ninjutsu, leaping a few steps back, he spun around while making his long fuzzy white hair to stand on their ends. Releasing spikes out from his dense hair, Jiraiya flung them all in the direction of Massaki. **(#1)** Surprising, the Missing-nin did not bother to dodge or block his attack, instead taking them all.

Jiraiya paused for a second to look at the outcome, a shocking expression on his face as he observed Massaki still standing, and smirking. Hundreds of deadly spikes were now standing up against his skin, a few even went through his body entirely, though Massaki showed slight signs of pain on his face, he remained confident.

"Hey, hey, Massaki, what are you up to this time?" Jiraiya questioned aloud, just as Massaki flexed his muscles to push out all the stuck needles from his body using his chakra. As blood flowed from the many wounds on his body, Massaki revealed yet another smile as he took a step forward.

"Come, this is just the beginning, Jiraiya," Massaki said in his coarse voice. Annoyed by his attitude, Jiraiya went for the kill. Before he could do anything, Massaki slammed both palms together to form two seals. "Bachiatari Ketsueki no Jutsu **(#2)**! Chitankawa no Jutsu **(#3)**!"

_"What?! Two techniques at once, so fast!"_ His body already in motion, he had no chance but to go head on with his original plan. Opting to take the risk, he continued his attack. "Rasengan **(#4)**!"

A large sphere of chakra swelled up perfectly in the form of a perfect orb in his right hand, spinning at an incredible speed. Holding it in front of him, he pushed the orb against the flesh of Massaki.

Jiraiya's eyes widened in shock, peeling his eyes off from the orb of chakra in his hand, to Massaki's exposed stomach, then finally to the creepy smile on his face. Rasengan tore a hole in his costume, but something was disrupting the flow of the Rasengan, blocking it like a titanium wall he had never seen before. It was not before long until Jiraiya suddenly spun out of control in the opposite direction, as expected if you blasted at a solid wall, the energy reflected back at him, sending him flying and spinning.

Before Jiraiya flew out of Massaki's attacking range, Massaki reached out one hand and grabbed onto Jiraiya's left arm, pulling him back. Jiraiya's face met Massaki's left fist, the downwards punch sent him almost drilling through the soft soil below them.

Jiraiya quickly tried to recover from the blow, lifting himself up from the foot-deep crater, he hastily escaped from Massaki's striking range. Still doubted with disbelief regarding what just happened, Jiraiya looked down at his left arm, it was stained with Massaki's blood when he grabbed Jiraiya.

_"If he had such a hard body, why did he left himself be pierced by my Togeyomi _**(#1)**_ technique? He must have something else up his sleeves, he cast two jutsu just now! I need to know what it is, I just try something to find out what it is!"_

Jiraiya mentally prepared himself to be careful of whatever the second jutsu was, and dashed towards Massaki to punch him in the face.

Massaki forced shut his eyes to concentrate, and from the wounds Jiraiya inflicted with his spikes, Massaki shot out dozens of blood-red needles. Jiraiya did not dodge in time, two of the needles hit in, one in his left thigh and one in his left abdomen.

"My new ability is the power to move blood at will, and adding on to that, my new 'sight' which grants me extreme accuracy, I am stronger than ever!" Massaki said, as if further proving a point, the droplets of blood started moving on his body, merging with other droplets to form multiple leech-like creatures crawling on his body.

"Hmph, so basically all I have to do is not to get near you?" Jiraiya teased as he got back onto his feet, the blood needles liquefied back into liquid state, oozing down his body from inside his body.

"You are underestimating my ability as a shinobi, my Bachiatari Ketsueki **(#2)** doesn't just control blood…," Massaki said, lifting one hand, he snapped his fingers.

"Argh!" Both the shallow cut on his right chest and the left arm where he was grabbed by Massaki blazed up in blue flame.

Using this exposed chance to finish off Jiraiya, Massaki dashed to attack with his dagger, at the same time lectured Jiraiya, "My new power not just controls my own blood but any exposed wounds on my opponents as well! I can make them explode as well!" More blood flowed out from Massaki's open wounds, enough for the 'leeches' to form into a snapping jaws on his right arm.

Jiraiya growled in pain, as the leech-like blood creature bit down hard on his left shoulder. Trying to summon a Rasengan again in his right hand, he found the blood creature split into two, the smaller one caught his right hand before he could attack Massaki.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, Massaki was hit by a strong blast of water attack from the back. **(#5) **Though the blood creature was unaffected, being able to hold its structure integrity despite being wet, Massaki was caught off-guard, the blast caused him to release Jiraiya from his hold.

Turning around, Massaki gave a crude laugh at his luck, of all person who he had to encounter here, it had to be Hatake Kakashi. Five years ago, at the Uchiha compound, had it not for the young Kakashi and the Uchiha girl, Massaki would not have succeed that mission so easily already.

"Huh, if it isn't young Kakashi," Massaki greeted as he turned around, stepping to one side, allowing him to keep his sights on both Jiraiya and Kakashi.

"… Massaki…," Kakashi mumbled.

"Be careful, Kakashi! He got a new trick!" Jiraiya shouted while he held on tightly onto his injured shoulder.

"Indeed, since we first met, I have gained a new ability," Massaki answered, raising his right arm with the leech-like creature on it.

Kakashi said nothing, his face revealed no emotion, yet his heart was boiling… His chance to avenge Ayu's death was right in front of him, even if it kills him, he would bring Massaki down with him.

"Let's attack together!" Jiraiya yelled, who instantly disappeared from sight, just as Kakashi rushed forward, throwing kunai at Massaki. The kunai bounced off Massaki's bounce, just as Jiraiya's hand sprung out of the soil beneath him, grabbing onto his foot. **(#6)** Massaki dragged Jiraiya out of his hiding spot, and punched him, causing the shadow clone to disappear in a puff of smoke.

"Physical damage like water and Rasengan won't work on his hardened skin, try using burning or electric skills!"

Seeing that his Suiryuudan no Jutsu **(#5)** did not work, Kakashi tried Ryuuka no Jutsu **(#7)** instead, aiming at the leech beast, but Massaki shielded it with his left arm. Massaki staggered back a little, putting his injured left arm close to his body, and then immediately aimed his blood beast skywards, at the position of the real Jiraiya, where the voice came from. Jiraiya dropped down from above, but met the leech beast right on, face-to-face. However, before Massaki's beast could reach Jiraiya, Kakashi slide-kicked Massaki. Flipping backwards, he used the beast as a mallet, and hammered Kakashi onto the ground.

Deciding that Jiraiya was more of a threat than Kakashi, Massaki fired the leech beast as a projectile at Jiraiya before he spin-kicked Kakashi at his chest. The leech beast hit straight on at Jiraiya's chest, biting off a piece of flesh off him. Using his Hari Jizou **(#8)**, he removed the leech, and bashed it into splatters of blood.

Seeing that correct elemental attacks would bypass his defence, the two of them coordinated their attacks from both sides.

"Karyuu Endan **(#9)**!" Jiraiya yelled.

"Raikiri **(#9)**!" Kakashi joined in as well.

With a steam of fire coming from on his left and Kakashi's lightning attack coming on his right, Massaki appeared to be trapped. However, this was not to be the case, snapping his fingers again, the wounds on his Jiraiya's abdomen and thighs exploded, causing Jiraiya's fire jutsu was misfired in the wrong direction instead. Quickly turning around while Jiraiya fell barely alive behind him, Massaki turned and ran towards Kakashi smudged blood from his body onto Kakashi's body, causing his skin to flare up and burst into flame.

Ignoring the pain, Kakashi pressed on, holding firmly his Chidori against Massaki's stomach. Kakashi could have sworn this would be the killing move, but it was not so. Massaki stumbled backwards, his feet unsteady, but very much alive. Jiraiya, on the other hand, two near-lethal hits on him already, and was in no condition for any more fights. Kakashi was in no state to continue on either, having used too many Raikiri in one day drained him of all energy.

"You won this time, Kakashi… You've… improved, if you were so strong back then, that girl wouldn't have died…"

Jiraiya breathed hard as he picked himself up, eyeing the back of Massaki. Kakashi fell onto his knees, exhausted. Looking up at Massaki, wondering why he had not finished them off.

"I will look forward to our next match, Kakashi," Massaki said, turning around, he looked at Jiraiya and continued, "and Jiraiya as well… Hahahaha… I will let the two of you live till then..."

Kakashi remained where he was, watching Massaki walked out from the battlefield slowly and slightly steadily.

All of the sudden, Massaki turned around, looking at Jiraiya, he said, "Guess what?" The two of them looked up at Massaki. "I lied."

A single arrow brushed past Kakashi, and found its way onto Jiraiya's body. Stunned, Jiraiya looked down at the single arrow sticking out of his left chest where his heart was. It was so quick that Jiraiya did not even blink at all, instead he just fell.

"Old man!" Kakashi screamed as he ran towards Jiraiya's side.

"Good work, Miyuki," Massaki said, smiling brilliantly. "See you, Kakashi."

* * *

**- Glossary-**

**#1 :: Togeyomi** – Underworld Spines.**  
#2 :: Bachiatari Ketsueki no Jutsu **– Cursed Blood Technique, a technique unique to Massaki, manipulate blood movement, cause them to explode into fire or acid.  
**#3 :: Chitankawa no Jutsu** – Titanium Hide Technique, turn the skin hard, but doesn't protect user from burn, shock, frost or acid.**  
#4 :: Rasengan** – Spiral Bullet.  
**#5 :: Suiryuudan no Jutsu** – Water Dragon Blast Technique.  
**#6 :: Shinjuu Zanshu no Jutsu** – Inner Decapitation Technique.  
**#7 :: Ryuuka no Jutsu** – Dragon Fire Technique.  
**#8 :: Hari Jizou** – Guardian Spikes.  
**#9 :: Karyuu Endan** – Fire Dragon Blast.


	47. Hakkotsu, Part III

**Act 7: Howls of the Beasts  
Chapter 47: Hakkotsu (IV)  
**Updated on: 13 September, 2007

* * *

Hakkotsu watched as Tako lifted the lifeless body of Kagetsu up from the ground with his scaly blue arms, though headless, Hakkotsu could almost sense the overwhelming sadness carried by the blue demon. Treading absentmindedly, Tako walked step by step away from the battlefield, leaving behind Kagetsu's sword and the unconscious Sasuke.

Watching them made her sad, another life was taken today, another meaningless killing, yet all these time since she recovered her memories, she had only looked forward to fighting with Sakura, only to realise that she missed out so much that she did not bother to recover. She was so caught up in the past, that she forgotten all about the future. Lifting one armoured hand, watching the opened palm, she imagined the blood that once stained this hand, she wondered if this was all her life supposed to be, killing and fighting? Clutching the hand into a tight fist, she pressed it against her hollow chest, over the invisible pain that was slowly killing her.

_"No… I have one last hope left…"_

Hakkotsu turned to look at Naruto, who showed no fear, only confusion.

"Come with me," Hakkotsu asked, as gently as she could, knowing that her voice was as hollow as her body was. "_That Aoi girl, she implanted Kagetsu's pearl into his body, I have to get it out…"_

The boy said nothing, only showing resistance in his body movement, he stepped backwards, carefully leaving enough space between the two of them, yet at the same time, observed the situation below them.

"Use your chakra, can you detect a foreign entity? Can you feel the single spot of coldness within your body?" Hakkotsu said, trying to convince the boy of her intention, but before Naruto could answer, Hakkotsu continued, "We will have to remove it."

Stretching out one hand, she offered it at Naruto.

"How?" Naruto asked. Tasting the inside of his mouth with his tongue, Naruto found the unnatural coldness still lingering in his mouth.

"Your Hokage might have an answer for us, I will bring you to him, this place is still not safe," Hakkotsu said, taking this chance when Naruto was confused, quickly grabbed onto his hand, and pulled him away from the scene.

"Who are we fighting?!" Naruto asked, after deciding upon this question among the thousands he wished to ask this mysterious fighter. After a short hesitation, Naruto shot another question, "What is going on?!"

Without turning her head around, Hakkotsu answered, "There is this criminal organisation called Akatsuki, led by a fearsome man, I don't know what he wants, but you and a lot others are important for his success."

"Why me?" Naruto asked without hesitation, there were too much left unanswered, he needed to know more

"He… Your father sealed a terrible demon, and only the same bloodline can unseal it, also, should they fail to obtain the demon, they would have to use your bloodline ability instead," Hakkotsu answered without looking back, her attention remained at bringing Naruto to safety.

"What? That demon you are referring to is that Konohagakure Demon, isn't it? Then, they are after Sakura-chan as well!"

As if avoiding the question, Hakkotsu said, "Our enemies have this magical device in which they can use to control the physical movements of their choosing. This device is called the Yasakani no Magatama, and they have already implanted the seed in your body. Right now, that girl called Ino fled with the Magatama, so before Akatsuki can regain control over the Magatama, we must remove the seed from you."

The two of them remained quiet for the remaining short journey. With the infirmary and the wards blocked up by Kurenai's tree, Hakkotsu had decided upon entering the building through another entrance. However, just as the two of them were about to arrive safely back inside the building, an unexpected shinobi appeared before them.

"Hold, Naruto-kun!" Hakkotsu shouted suddenly, already sensing the familiar chakra presence.

"What's wrong?!" Naruto questioned, but was met with the silent treatment.

Looking around her, Hakkotsu finally found the would-be attacker. Revealing himself, Orochimaru stepped forward.

"Orochimaru!"

Hakkotsu tensed, readying herself for the upcoming battle, just as Orochimaru smiled and said, "Relax, Hakkotsu, I'm not here for Naruto today, I'm through with Akatsuki, _his_ plan takes too much waiting and has to factor too much uncertainties. You should know me, I can't stand all this waiting… For now, I'm content with you. Hakkotsu, I'm here to take back your soul, your betrayal demands me to do it."

"Stay behind me, Naruto-kun, he's beyond your ability," Hakkotsu said coldly.

Naruto's right hand naturally reached to his weapon pouch by instinct, only to find it missing, regardless of that, he continued to stand next to Hakkotsu, firmly believing that he could do something. "Didn't you say that my Kyuushuuryoku needs more practicing? Haha, I guess this is a good time to try out your theory **(A/N: Chapter 39)**," Naruto said while grinned with anticipation.

"… Fine, at the very least, try to take care of yourself, and observe the techniques I am using."

"Enough talk, Hakkotsu!" Orochimaru ran forward, leaping from tree branch to tree branch, occasionally disappearing from sight only to reappear nearer to his target.

"Listen carefully, Naruto-kun, first style, the song of the moonlight wasps," Hakkotsu whispered under her breath, then she said aloud one by one the various hand seals needed to activate the jutsu, followed by finally the name of the technique. "Go forth, Gesshoku Suzumebachi!" Spinning the on spot, electric charges surged from her palms, holding them out towards Orochimaru, she fired multiple arrows of light rapidly, Naruto estimated there must be at least a hundred shots within six seconds.

Pausing in midair, Orochimaru easily deflected the weak electric attack with a sword he pulled out from his mouth. Swinging it a few times in each direction effectively broke the wasps into pieces. However, Orochimaru appeared to be surprised that Hakkotsu was using this technique against him.

"Why are you still playing? Using such weak technique against me?!" Orochimaru warned, aiming his left arm at Hakkotsu and Naruto, a huge snake grew from underneath the left sleeve, shooting forward.

"Second style, dance of the widowed spirits, Rousoku Shirei!" After completing the array of hand seals, Hakkotsu pulled her hands back, and snapped her fingers, as eight spectral orbs emerged out of nowhere and moved off one by one in a zig-zag line towards.

The snake from Orochimaru's left sleeve rushed forward, as if hungry, it devoured up all the orbs of lightning before anyone of them could reach Orochimaru. Reaching its limit, the snake travelled rapidly from one end of the battlefield to the other, just as it was right in front of Hakkotsu, it exploded. The blood and guts from the snake blinded Hakkotsu momentarily as Orochimaru went for the kill.

"So, you are trying to show the boy all four of your techniques?! I will finish you here before your next move! Makaikamu no Jutsu!"

The tree branch on which both Hakkotsu and Naruto were standing on started to wobble unnaturally, as the colour of the tree turned darker until four black snakes sprung out from the tree itself, sinking their poisonous teeth onto Hakkotsu. The poison had no effect on Hakkotsu, but it effectively held her down on the spot.

Orochimaru was coming close into striking distance, choosing to wield his sword. Naruto jumped off from where he stood, releasing a fire jutsu in midair at Orochimaru. The Missing-nin easily brushed the fire of the Goukakyuu no Jutsu back at Naruto by focusing chakra onto the blade of his sword.

"Look out!" Naruto warned when he emerged from his own fireball, slightly charred.

Unexpectedly, Hakkotsu moved from a defensive stance to an offensive stance, instant of protecting herself from the bites of the snakes, she formed seals for the next technique.

"Fourth style, charge of the Hollow Horseman, Nanka Kishi!"

"She skipped one step?" Orochimaru laughed as the Nanka Kishi charged up right in front of him at almost point-blank range.

Turning his body, he barely spun his body out of the way as the powerful attack brushed by him, burning his skin and clothes off. However, in dodging Nanka Kishi, he accidentally allowed himself to fall from his position, freefalling backwards, he threw his sword upwards at Hakkotsu. The blade pierced through the tree branch like a drill, digging itself right up on Hakkotsu's left leg.

Ignoring the pain as her left leg almost came loose from the hip joint, Hakkotsu released her next attack, "Third style, rite of the stringed puppets, Butou Kairai!"

Bolts of lightning were able to rain down on Orochimaru, but he quickly called forth another snake from his right sleeve, it shot forward like a grappling hook, anchoring itself at another tree, swinging himself upwards, causing Butou Kairai to miss its target entirely. Appearing right behind the stunned Hakkotsu, his arms turned into rubbery snakes and wrapped themselves around her. Before she could react, Orochimaru lifted Hakkotsu up into the air, and sent her plunging headfirst onto the ground below them.

Unable to help Hakkotsu, Naruto tried his best to sneak up an attack on Orochimaru while he was distracted. "Kyuushuuryoku!" Instantly, his eyes glowed gold, while golden sparks spun around his two palms.

Orochimaru looked at the boy interestingly, with Naruto coming close in range to encounter in a melee fight, Orochimaru returned his hands back to normal, before using them to create a series of hand seals. Orochimaru closed his eyes and took in one big breath, but instead of breathing out fire or water, he screamed, literally creating a sonic wall, bouncing off Naruto's attack.

Tumbling from where he was, he pummelled down to where Hakkotsu was. Just as Naruto was trying to regain his bearing, Hakkotsu was pulling herself up, her sharp nails digging into a tree nearby for support, yelling at Naruto for support, "Naruto-kun, knock him down!"

Nodding, Naruto turned his attention to the tree on which Orochimaru was standing on. Concentrating his chakra on one fist, he punched a hole right out of the tree trunk.

Instead of escaping into safety, Orochimaru channelled chakra onto his feet, and went down along with the towering tree onto the ground. With the rising dust clouds and fallen leaves, the two of them lost sight of Orochimaru momentarily. The two of them quickly surveyed their surroundings, hoping to find the location at which Orochimaru would spring at them.

Suddenly, Orochimaru appeared from behind a bush, he was moving in such a low position, and such high speed, he could almost be mistaken as to be slithering through the tall grass. Appearing directly in front of Naruto, Naruto barely had time to react, only Hakkotsu's quick reflexes saved him, pulling him out of danger as the snake-like Orochimaru slithered away from them. Turning around in a sharp turn, Orochimaru slithered back towards them, another Orochimaru appeared from behind them, and grabbed onto Hakkotsu's shoulders, followed by a sharp kick to her injured left knee.

Hakkotsu's left leg almost gave way completely, falling sideway, she crashed onto Naruto. It was at this point that the first Orochimaru reappeared before Naruto, but before he could do anything, Hakkotsu grabbed Orochimaru by the neck and gave it a quick snap. The sound of the neck breaking was heard, followed by a soft puff, as the shadow clone disappeared.

The remaining Orochimaru picked up Hakkotsu and flung her towards a huge tree, then he threw Naruto away in the opposite direction. "Is this all you got, Hakkotsu?! You really disappointed me this time, I expected much more from you!"

With her left leg badly damaged, Hakkotsu could barely stand on her own. Watching over Orochimaru's shoulders, she tried to see how Naruto fared, and was relieved to find him all right, though appearing a little dizzy.

"I guess that it is really time for me to end this, Hakkotsu. Kuchiyose no Jutsu, Manda!"

The ground trembled right away, and rose up into the sky was a giant snake, with Orochimaru standing right on its forehead. It was the first time for Naruto to see the lord of the snakes, Manda, he figured that it should be somewhere around the same size as Gama Bunta, the toad boss that had seen Jiraiya summoned before.

**"This better be fun, Orochimaru, or I will enjoy tearing you apart myself."**

"Trust me, you stinky snake, this fight will worth the effort," Orochimaru said while grinning widely.

Without thinking things through, Naruto dashed forward at an incredible chakra-enhanced speed, pulling back his right fist, he gave it all he had to deliver a deadly chakra punch. Naruto bounced off Manda, surprised that his Kyuushuuryoku had no effect on the snake, Naruto failed to notice Manda moving his heavy body towards him, wanting to crush him to death.

Quick to notice, Hakkotsu went to save Naruto, pulling him out of the danger. The previous punch had drained Naruto of his strength, and his Kyuushuuryoku disengaged by itself.

"How… how can we defeat… this?!"

"Naruto, give me your hand," Hakkotsu calmly said.

Not knowing the reason, he did as he was told, and witnessed Hakkotsu using her sharp claws to cut across his palm. Surprised, he watched as Hakkotsu ran her right thumb over the bleeding wound.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" Hakkotsu yelled, using the blood to activate summoning technique. "Gama Bunta!"

**"Hissss? This may indeed become an interesting fight, Orochimaru… I am not aware that old toad has a contract with another… um… thing,"** Manda hissed, watching intensively as a giant cloud rose from the ground, and revealed the form of a huge toad in the middle.

"Wh- What this! Gama Bunta?!" Naruto stuttered in shock.

Wasting no time, Hakkotsu carried Naruto by his waist, and together, the two of them travelled onto the back of the giant toad in a few short leaps.

**"Can it be…? That you are still alive?"**

"There's no time, Gama Bunta!"

**"What happened to you, girl? I… no, we thought that you are dead."**

"Are we going to waste anymore time already?! Just listen to my commands, you old fool."

**"Hmph, still as feisty as ever, girl of the Cloud,"** Gama Bunta said before turning his attention over to Naruto. **_"Hmm, Naruto is here as well, does he know …?"_**

For an enormous snake like Manda, he moved with surprisingly speed and agility. Seeing his ancient rival coming towards him, Gama Bunta hopped away from danger, while at the same time, threw a giant wine jug at the snake. Manda opened his fanged mouth, and easily crashed the clay jug with his jaws.

"Get in close, old toad, I need to be within striking distance of Orochimaru!"

"What are your plans, Hakkotsu?!" Naruto shouted over the noises of the two summoned beasts fighting.

**_"Hakkotsu?"_**

"Orochimaru is too dangerous, any moment he might change his mind and come for you and the others, I will need to destroy him this time," Hakkotsu answered, watching closely to how the battle was going about. The two ancient animals were equally matched, with Orochimaru merely enjoying the show with his feet deeply anchored down using chakra.

**"Hold on tight, I'm going to jump!"** the boss of toads mumbled loudly, with just that, he rocketed up into the sky, with Manda following closely, using his body as a spring to let him jump higher. **"Let loose your fury, girl!"** Drawing out his katana blade, he tossed it as a javelin. Manda narrowly escaped the blade, moving gracefully in the sky, he caught the blade with his mouth. Just as Manda was about to return the sword by throwing it upwards, he realised that he was in a grave position, with the sun over him, he could hardly see due to the glare, but that was the least of his problem. Hakkotsu ran up to the front, and released almost all her chakra on a single lightning technique.

"Dai Butou Kairai!"

Massive lightning bolts rained down on Manda and Orochimaru, with the sword acting as a conductor, most of the bolts hit true to their target, and with his body in midair, there was no ground for him to discharge the electricity.

"Watch this, Naruto-kun!" Hakkotsu shouted at the top of her lungs **(A/N: figure of speech, she has none)**, before leaping off from Gama Bunta, freefalling down onto Manda.

"What is she planning to do?!" Naruto asked the Boss Toad.

**"This is a technique your father loved to use a lot, Rasengan!"**

True enough, Hakkotsu formed two perfect spheres, one in each hand. Orochimaru pushed himself onto his feet, just in time to watch as Hakkotsu dragged the orbs of chakra along the back of Manda, digging into his flesh. Orochimaru met face-to-face with Rasengan, drawing his sword, he tried to stop the orbs' destructive power, but the sword broke under the immerse pressure.

As the two orbs of Rasengan met their target, they drilled through flesh and bones, each orb of Rasengan tunnelled through each of his arms, shattering the bones, and mowing through his muscles and nerves, tearing them out from the roots.

Hakkotsu now stood before the armless Orochimaru, pain and anger clearly depicted on his face. "Die!" Hakkotsu yelled, moving her Rasengan-ed hands inwards, moving from his shoulder-joints into his chest.

"This is not over yet, Hakkotsu!" Orochimaru screamed, blood spitted out with his last words. Opening his mouth, shooting out an elongated tongue, but as if sharpened to perfection, the tongue pierced through Hakkotsu's thick mask, and exited from the back of her head.

Orochimaru gave his final wicked laugh, as he watched Hakkotsu staggered a few feet back before the Rasengan in her hands dispersed. Lifting her hands up to her hollow face, Hakkotsu screamed a silent cry. Manda disappeared into a puff of smoke hissing in pain, while both fighters fell unconscious as they plunged from the sky.

**"Not good at all! Wake up! Girl of the Cloud! Wake up, Uzumaki Kimiko!"**

The last two words caught Naruto's attention: 'Uzumaki Kimiko' was the name of his mother, and wife to the Fourth Hokage, his father. Rasengan was the Fourth Hokage's trademark attack. Yet upon realising this, he could do nothing but watched the two figures fell from the sky.

Gama Bunta shot out his soft tongue, and wrapped it around the body of the bone doll, Hakkotsu. Within seconds, they returned to ground level, yet these seconds lasted longer than expected, especially for Naruto. Someone who he had lost before he could even get to know her, reappeared in his life, providing a second chance, yet all could very well be lost in the very instant. Jumping off from Gama Bunta's back, he watched as Boss Toad unveiled the catch wrapped with his tongue. Naruto tried to call out, but could not find the strength to do.

The armour was badly damaged, a single hole could be seen from the front of the mask to the back of the helmet, her two hands were burned, not built to handle such intense chakra concentration, and her left leg had fallen off clean, exposing the doll-like hip joint. Yet, she still lived, barely. With the casing too badly damaged, chakra was leaking too fast to maintain her soul, her spirit was slowly slipping out of the empty shell…

"Mother?" a voice called out from the darkness.

Opening her eyes, Uzumaki Kimiko would have smiled if she could. Darkness engulfed her, but the face of a man she loved grew clearer with clarity, smiling at her, he reached with one hand to catch her, pulling her up into a warm embrace.

Regaining her conscious for a short moment, Kimiko remembered what happened, and instantly, the image of her husband faded away. Replacing him was one who looked just like him when he was young. "Naruto-kun," Kimiko called out instead, with a hint of sadness in her voice, trying to lift one hand to touch him. Perhaps, she had plans for him, to personally tell him about herself, to let him know more about his parents.

Reaching her lifespan allowed by the physical limit of the body, Kimiko's hand fell short of Naruto's face as her body crumbled into dusts in his arms. The young boy cowered over what left of his mother's body.


	48. Gaara, Part II

**Act 7: Howls of the Beasts  
Chapter 48: Gaara (II)  
**Updated on: 13 September, 2007

* * *

The events that happened were a haze to Sakura, having shared the same body with Inner Sakura during the fight with Hakkotsu had brought out some confusing memories from the past, and these only confused the girl further. Among the fleeing memories were two prominent figures, a boy with blue eyes and golden hair, and a girl with pale complexion and white hair.

The battle was pretty much over, the Leaf-nins were winning, and were already rounding up the remaining enemies. A Chuunin arrived from one of the exits, mumbling something into the Hokage's ear. The Hokage nodded a few times, as he issued a few other orders back to the Chuunin. Suddenly realising that Sakura was watching him, he turned at her direction and smiled warmly, prompting Sakura to shy away.

"Are you all right, Sakura-chan?" the Hokage asked, walking over slowly.

Surprised that the Hokage would suddenly want to talk to her, Sakura could not find the words to describe her feeling. So instead, she asked: "Was it okay… for me to… fight like that?"

Knowing what she was referring to, the merger between Sakura and the demon, Hokage answered with a smile, "It was only the matter of time, when this is over, I will explain to you about _everything_."

"Everything?" Sakura asked, she was not aware of anything so important that it required a briefing from the Hokage himself.

"I own you an apology, Sakura-chan," the Hokage said. Sakura gave him a puzzled look, prompting him to change the topic quickly, the Hokage asked, "Can you please help us, there are many wounded, see if you can help in any way, Sakura-chan."

"Yes, sir," Sakura answered softly, she could not put behind the thoughts of something being kept from her.

As Sakura stood up, and looked around for anything she could help with, the building suddenly rumbled for a short while.

"What was that?" a Chuunin asked. The Hokage looked around worrying as well, and soon enough, a Jounin went out to investigate.

Minutes passed as Sakura helped out with the other Genins with bandaging the injured. Looking up, she noticed the return of the same Jounin, she could hear a little of what was reported to the Hokage.

"… Orochimaru… Gama Bunta… Manda… fighting…"

The Hokage raised on eyebrow, appearing surprised. Anko, who was standing nearby, appeared disturbed and uneasy, the only thing wrong was that her sleeves and shoes were gone. Sakura wondered what all that could be. The Hokage said nothing, and instead he asked Ibiki and Asuma to come to his side.

Seconds later, the two Jounins gathered up the Genins. "Come on, we are leaving this place," Asuma said. Tenten looked at Neji for an answer, Neji remained cool and followed the orders.

"What about Shikamaru-kun, Chouji-kun and Shino-kun?" Sakura asked.

"And Hinata-chan and that other injured Genins?" Tenten chipped in another question.

"Don't worry, all injured Genins who were in the medical wards have been escorted to somewhere safer as well," Ibiki answered as monotonous as humanly possible. Sakura wondered the meaning of what Ibiki said, could she be the one endangering her friends?

Tenten expressed her discomfort of not knowing for certain of their wellbeing, but said nothing more as Ibiki led them out of them hastily. After a few minutes of travelling, they arrived a secret passage out to the back of the tower, their plan was to exit through the gate behind them. The children kept quiet for most of the journey, though the adults were keeping a lookout for any danger, neither of the two could have imaged the return of…

"Gaara!" Tenten shouted in panic, spotting the Sand-nin just a short distance away. Both adults were surprised that they failed to notice his arrival, while Neji and Shino went to an offensive stance each.

"Behind us, stay behind us," Ibiki ordered.

"Neji, you will lead, take them with you," Asuma quickly said.

Neither Neji nor Shino said nothing, though Neji appeared uncomfortable leaving the fighting to the two Jounins alone. Quickly taking on the role as the leader of the ragtag team, Neji motioned the others to follow him.

Sakura cast a quick glance back to see how Asuma and Ibiki were handling the situation as they fled around the corner with Shino choosing to stay at the end of the group. Under their orders, Neji led them in a path encircling Gaara's position, avoiding confronting him as the adults rushed Gaara.

Gaara did not move from his spot, but all this time, he eyed Sakura closely. When Asuma and Ibiki came into melee range, the three of them fought viciously like none have ever seen. Both Asuma and Ibiki were expert in their fields, both fields concerning close-range combat, but neither of them appeared to be able to pierce through Gaara's thick layer of armouring.

**_"Fools,"_** Inner Sakura suddenly spoke up in her mind.

_"What? Why did you say that?"_

**_"You should know that the two of them are no match for Gaara."_**

_"It can't be! They are Jounins!"_

**_"Humph, we shall see."_**

The few of them continued running, following Neji closely behind, out of the sudden, Inner Sakura shouted out a warning inside of Sakura's head, "**_Behind you!"_**

"What?!" Sakura shouted as she turned around, prompting the others to do so as well. Right behind them was Gaara, his cold face watching them. Both Neji and Shino stopped, knowing that there was no way they could outrun Gaara, instead choosing to observe Gaara for the time being.

Gaara said nothing, but all this while, he was looking closely at Sakura. Surprisingly, Gaara suddenly spoke, "Go, I have no interest in anyone of you beside the girl called Haruno Sakura."

"No! We are not leaving anyone behind, you just have to get through me," Neji spoke as he calmly went into an attacking position.

Shino said nothing, but action spoke louder than words as he entered battle stance as well.

"No! Go ahead, Neji-kun, Shino-kun! I will catch up ahead!" Sakura said, surprised at her own proposal. _"What the hell am I saying?!"_

The Genins remained stubborn, as Tenten joined Neji and Shino.

"So be it," Gaara said quietly.

Without another word, Neji, Shino and Tenten worked like a team, Neji came up front to use his taijutsu, and found all hits being blocked by the sand raised from his gourd, likewise, none of Tenten's projectiles could get through. Before all hope was lost, gigantic centipedes rose from the soil, finding their way up Gaara's feet, distracting him.

Tenten tried out her Soushouryu: all the kunai and shuriken hit true to their target, just that none of them managed to get pass Gaara's defences. With Tenten pushing at the front, Neji came up at the back, and used his Rokujuu Yonshou. Just as Gaara's sand was about to whirl around to the back to protect him, a pair of oversized pincers pushed its way up from underneath Gaara's feet.

Getting enough distracting from Shino, Gaara decided to get rid of him and his pets first. The giant pincers clamped itself onto Gaara, but using its sand, he easily uprooted the whole bug and threw it at Shino. Pinned down by his own summon, Shino soon lost consciousness.

"Get out of here, Sakura-chan!" Tenten shouted, casting a quick glance back at the pink-headed girl. "Run!"

**_"You should do that, he is after you,"_** Inner Sakura suggested.

_"But why?"_

**_"You mean you can't feel it?"_**

_"Feel what?"_

**_"Just run, as long as we are away, he will chase us and leave them alone."_**

That sounded logical enough, so Sakura ran.

Noticing Sakura escaping, Gaara lifted himself up with another sphere of sand, spinning rapidly to knock Neji and Tenten off their feet.

Sakura could hear the screams, but forced herself to only look forward, right now, her only task was to bring Gaara away from them.

Watching Sakura disappearing into the bushes, Gaara wrapped himself in a sphere of sand and tore through the soil and vegetation, passing Shino by, as it scurried after Sakura.

"Why is he after me?!" Sakura asked, in her panicking state, she forgot that she did not have to speak out loud to communicate with Inner Sakura.

Inner Sakura did not answer back, which only angered Sakura more, she knew her inner counterpart knew something that she was not willing to part, what was it? Looking back, Gaara was already gone from her sight, yet, she could not help but feel watched. Turning her head back and resuming her attention on what was ahead of her, her heart almost skipped a beat upon seeing Gaara standing right in front of her.

_"How did he…?!" _More importantly: "_Are they all right?"_

**_"Worry about yourself,"_** Inner Sakura replied.

Ignoring her inner counterpart, Sakura looked almost angrily into Gaara's eyes, eyes that were void of emotion. "Why are you doing this?" Sakura asked, beads of perspiration rolling down the sides of her head.

Gaara said nothing, instead a voice from far within her head called out, **"_Watch out, below you!"_**

Jumping up into the air on pure instinct, Sakura watched with shock as the ground below her crumbled and was grinded into fine sand. Landing a few feet back, Sakura watched as Gaara taking slow steps towards her. _"Is there a range limit with his ability to move the sand?"_

"Why are you targeting me?" Sakura screamed, trying again to reach out to the enemy, but expected, Gaara remained silent, and only proceed on steady towards her. Though Gaara took a painfully slow pacing, his attack was rushed and unpredictable. Dodging left and right, Sakura had no means of retaliate against Gaara's minor waves of sand. She left Gama Heijin's broad sabre back at the tower, and she doubted her kunai could put a dent into the sand barrier.

"Speak to me!" Sakura yelled, and threw a kunai at him on impulse.

Brushing the kunai aside without the aid of his sand, Gaara watched the girl without blinking his eyes. "You can't feel me?"

"Wh- What? What are you saying?" Sakura stuttered.

"I can feel you, my demon is calling out to yours."

_"What? How did he know?"_ Taken back by his sudden response, Sakura watched curiously for what he had to say. Suddenly realising on something else, Sakura thought back to what he said. "Your… demon?" Looking at Gaara from head to toe, she realised that the fearsome power they witnessed could only prove that he indeed had a demon in him as well. _"So that was why he is so powerful… But how?!"_

Upon hearing this, "Yes, I do have a demon inside of me, like you do."

"It can't be, can it?" Sakura asked, though this time was directed to Inner Sakura, who remained quiet throughout the whole conversation. "Answer me!"

"Come, release your demon, and we shall see who is the stronger of the two," Gaara whispered, smiling for a split second while never letting his eyes off the girl.

"Wait! What?! But why? Why must we fight? Just because we have a demon in us?! I do not understand!"

**_"So, I see…,"_** the soft whisper came from the depth of her mind. Inner Sakura did not sound at all surprised that someone else actually knew about her existence.

"I see, so what _they_ said is true," Gaara replied as he appeared to have calmed down a little, only to suddenly widen his eyes in anger. "That you are ignorant to your life."

"What?!"

"Only through battle am I myself, and only be submitting ourselves to our demons, can we ever rest in peace," Gaara mumbled, as irrational the statement might be, it was spoken with a dreadful calm voice. While Sakura was stumped on what to say next, Gaara waved one hand over his shoulder, commanding a thick stream of sand over and slammed Sakura to one side.

Just as Sakura slowly picked herself up, recovering from his previous attack, Gaara continued, "Isn't your life filled with death and destruction as well?"

"Death?" Sakura murmured, coughing out blood, and wiping them off with the back of her palm.

"Death and destruction command our lives. Even yourself was brought to this life through the sacrifices of many lives. We are demons, regardless of what are inside of us," Gaara answered, this time slowly his attack, waiting for Sakura to fully recover, half expecting her to retaliate.

Like in a black-and-white cinematic slideshow, scenes of her life flashed before her: the dreadful stares; the whispers behind her back; Iruka dying before her; even Haku's 'death' shook her deeply in her belief. Yet even with all that, Sakura smiled crudely.

"I see, so you being through all that haven't you? No, maybe even worse than I have," Sakura whispered softly. Gaara said nothing, but tints of anger were sipping into his eyes, his mouth curved slightly, forming a small frown, whether from remembering his childhood or resent at Sakura's statement, Sakura did not know.

"Yes, that is why we are the same, not because of the demon inside of us, but the path we took to reach here."

"Then, all the more reason not to fight," Sakura said weakly. "Gaara-kun."

Gaara scowled at her statement. "Enough talk, let's get down to it." Before Sakura could protest further, Gaara continued, cutting her off, "If you can't see what I am seeing, that I will path your way for you!"

"See what? No, understand what? What are you trying to make me understand?!"

"You are an unnecessary factor in this world!" Gaara shouted for the first time, anger obviously in his voice. "Even now, men from all over the world wanted to make use of you, and more suffering will only set in if you do not give up!"

"Give up?"

"Let me relieve you of your pain, let me end your pathetic painful existence, let me kill you, Haruno Sakura."

"No!"

"Your paths are set to the stone, there will be not changing, that is why I am here. That is why I accepted this mission, but instead of capturing you as instructed, I will kill you!"

"You are wrong! We choose our own paths!" Sakura quickly argued.

"Wrong? We are nothing but tools and containers for the evil demons, our fates are sealed the moment we are chosen to be containers. Betrayed by the ones who should have rightfully loved us instead of sealing our fates with the demons in us!"

Taken by surprise for what Gaara said, Sakura mumbled a single word of: "Betrayed?" Mizuki came into mind, but more importantly, Sakura wondered about the person who sealed the demon inside her, what kind of person was he? A caring person? One loved by all citizens? One who despite all that chose her as the container?

Even Inner Sakura stirred at the thought of that, at first speaking nonsense about 'Hokage' but eventually crumbling into wordless mumbling.

"Why were you chosen for this?! Have you asked yourself that? Have you ever wondered what have we done to allow people to do this to us?"

Sakura said nothing, she could say nothing to defend herself or the action of the man who sealed her.

"This is why I will show you the truth of your error, and this is why I will end your miserable life for you, Haruno Sakura! I have no intention of showing any mercy, don't you dare show any to me. Fight like a raging demon you are, Haruno Sakura, that is the only way you can live this life!" Gaara shouted, his face filled with emotions. His face cracked, revealing portions of his real appearance as pieces of sand-like skin fell off.

Drawing back his right fist, Gaara gathered sand onto it, revealing a large fleshy claw-like arm.

**_"Look out!"_**

Unable to do anything in time, Sakura cowered behind her shielding arms, closing her eyes as Gaara brought down his beast-like right arm down on her.

Suddenly a colossal blade cut through the air, slicing Gaara's arm in two, turning back part of his arm into grainy sand. Both children were shocked at the size of the blade, and looked up at the wielder of the blade.

**_"Gama Bunta!"_** Inner Sakura called in her head, just as Sakura tumbled backwards, awing at the size of the huge toad. "What the hell?! _You_ know that giant toad?"

Gaara cursed under his breath, he did not expect interference.

**"I don't know who you are or what is going on, but I can't help but noticed your demonic aura, and I figured that you probably don't belong here, boy,"** the towering toad croaked. **"Are you all right, girl?"** Gama Bunta asked briefly, looking down at Sakura. Narrowing his eyes, the old toad appeared to have recognised Sakura instantly. **"Climb on, girl, it looks like this is going to be a long day,"** Gama Bunta motioned with his tongue, pointing at Gaara as he grew in size, mutating into a frightening form.

**_"Get on,"_** Inner Sakura repeated at Sakura. Barely able to apprehend the changing situation, Sakura did as she was told.

**"What's your name?"** Gama Bunta asked quietly, though that was pointless since he knew who she was, and what she held within.

"Sa- Sakura, Haruno Sakura!" the girl frightfully answered, forgotten about her disgust with toads.

**"I am called Gama Bunta,"** the old toad introduced.

"Interference!" Gaara shouted, as fleshy sand moulded around him, changing his appearance away. "Be gone!"

**"I should say the same about you! Scram before I get mad here!"**

**"It's no use, toad, we will have to fight this one together,"** Inner Sakura said using Sakura's body, pushing her conscious up as she drowned Sakura's voice down into the shadow behind.

Suddenly, both Sakura and Gama Bunta lost their footing, as Sakura slipped on top of the toad's head, Gama Bunta was struggling to regain a steady foothold on the soil. As if a massive invisible hammer was pounding against the ground around them, a series of consecutive jerks caused the ground to tremble, like as though the ground below them would just collapse around them.

**"What is happening?"** Gama Bunta asked, not expecting Sakura to know the answer.

**"He's turned the earth into sand, get out of here now!"**

Though he could not find himself believing such a theory, Gama Bunta trusted her anyway, and jumped a few steps back. Watching grainy sand rising from the soil, Gama Bunta expressed his shock at finding the sand merging to form a colossal shape of a giant raccoon-dog.

The deformed shape of the beast refined itself, until a define form of a head was sculpted out from the lump of sand, and right on top of the head was Gaara half-submerged into Shukaku's head with his arms folded. Opening its monstrous jaws, the beast spoke with a single voice with Gaara, **"I am the container of the demon Shukaku."**

**"Shukaku? Never heard of him, but will still whack the hell out of you to teach you some manners."** Resulting a small 'hmph' from Gaara before quietly closing his eyes. **"What? Sleeping on my watch?"**

Impressed by his attitude, Inner Sakura quickly shouted out her plans to Gama Bunta. **"Be careful, to allow Shukaku to surface fully, that boy must be allowed to fall into a deep sleep."**

**"Really? You sure know a lot. In that case, I won't let him sleep!"** Gama Bunta shouted back, drawing his blade from the scabbard, he darted forward in short leaps, closing in to 'wake' Gaara. Not expecting Gaara to counter as he was slowly falling asleep with his eyelids flickering quickly, Gama Bunta met a fierce resistance from the beastly sand.

**"It's no use, we won't be able to wake him at this stage, Shukaku is slowly awakening, and he will be protecting Gaara until the process is completed. We must get closer, only by attacking Gaara directly can wake him, and your size to too large to attack swiftly."**

**"Then, what do you suggest?"**

**"Get me close, I will do it,"** Inner Sakura answered.

_"Don't hurt him!"_ Sakura voiced out inside her head

**_"Blah! You and your mortal compassion."_** There was an awkward silence between the two of them, before Inner Sakura spoke again, **_"Fine, I will try."_**

**"You have confident eh? Fine, I will go along,"** Gama Bunta answered, not noticing the conversation Sakura had with her inner counterpart. **"Hold on tight, this will be quite a ride."**

The two puny eyes on the beast took shape, opening to reveal two round orbs, Shukaku smiled, knowing his victory was near. Gaara remained motionless as Shukaku observed his opponents, he was not expecting the boss of toads be greeting him here, but it did not affect him much, he knew this would be an easy battle unless the demon inside the girl was to awake fully.

Before Gama Bunta could retrieve his sword, Shukaku wrapped its arms around the blade, pulling it close into its body, absorbing it in. While Gama Bunta was stunned at the lost of his weapon, Shukaku immediately spit out the blade like a spear. Dodging to one side, Gama Bunta found out too late that this Shukaku could very well be his toughest opponent since the Konohagakure Demon twelve years ago. For something of his size, Shukaku moved with amazingly agility, sliding on the layer of sand carpeting the earth, Shukaku went for an instant kill.

Shukaku cut through the sand-covered ground in a straight line, his two claws reaching out for Gama Bunta's vital organs. Leaping slightly, lifting himself off the ground, Gama Bunta quickly spin in midair, as if by magic, his coat grew in length, until it covered the sky above the two giant beasts. Wasting no time in observing the effect, Shukaku continued in his advance. Grabbing onto the ends of the elongated coat, Gama Bunta covered the surprised demon from head to tail, halting his attack momentarily.

_"What jutsu is that?"_ Sakura whispered in the back of her head, as even Inner Sakura watched in awe of the skill that captured Shukaku.

**"Now, let me see if I can douse this young demon's rage with some water,"** Gama Bunta roared before quickly spitting out orbs of water bullet. The bullets of water hit the covered Shukaku like multiple blows from a heavy mallet, effectively knocking him down to the ground. However, that was not enough to stop Shukaku, realising this, the old toad called out to his rider, **"I'm just a toad, I don't have any fangs or claws to stop him, so use Henge no Jutsu, I'll transform into something that does! I'm no good at transforming, so you will be my will and do it for me, I'll lend you my chakra! It'll be a combo Henge!"**

"Something with claws and fangs…," Sakura mumbled, quickly searching inside her mind for an ideal form. A faded image of a white humanoid demon came into her mind…

**"Um… anything besides your real form, we don't want people to start recognising you, do we?"** Gama Bunta bluntly said.

**"So you know who I am,"** Inner Sakura curiously said.

**"Doesn't take a genius to figure that out,"** Gama Bunta answered. **"All right then, here we go!"**

Gama Bunta disappeared behind a huge cloud of smoke, and leaping through it was gigantic brown fox.

_"A fox?!"_ Sakura thought, she knew she was not the one suggesting this image, but why of all animal, did her inner self chose a fox? "_Does it have any meaning?"_

The combined fox creature planted its jaws tightly around Shukaku's neck, while digging its claws around the fat demon. Just as Shukaku was stunned with what was going on around him, the illusion dispersed almost immediately, as Inner Sakura took charge, bringing Sakura's body to her limit. Pushing her off the edge, the two of them jumped towards Shukaku.

Landing on top of Shukaku's head, near where the sleeping Gaara was at, Sakura ran as fast as she could. At this moment, Shukaku was about to slip away, his body broke up into fine sand particles, and simply went past Gama Bunta's clumsy hands.

Racing up Shukaku's forehead, Sakura arrived at Gaara's body, just as Sakura pulled back one fist to deliver a heavy punch, hopefully one heavy enough to wake the boy up, Gaara threw his eyes wide open, catching Sakura's right fist in one hand and threw her over his shoulder.

Startled, Inner Sakura spun around to witness as Gaara pulled himself away from Shukaku's forehead. **"Impossible, for Shukaku to appear, you must be in a dream-like state!"**

"Just as you have learnt to co-exist with your demon, I have learnt to do so with mine," Gaara answered. "While Shukaku is fighting with that toad of yours, shall we continue our fight, Haruno Sakura?"

_"I don't understand, why isn't he worried? He said so himself that Shukaku will be occupied with Gama Bunta, so why isn't he afraid of us two ganging up on him?"_

**_"Because that kid has us in his preferred fighting field! Look at the sand all around us!"_**

_"What?"_

**_"With us trapped so high up from the ground, we can't escape easily, and Shukaku will certainly prevent Gama Bunta from coming any closer to help us. We are on our own, so in a way, it's a fair fight now. Be careful, Sakura-chan, we-"_**

"I don't care, I am going to save Gaara-kun," Sakura answered. Pulling out one of her kunai, Sakura called out to her inner self, requesting her aid, _"Help me, I know we can do this, together."_

"Save me? From who? From Shukaku?" Gaara said in a low voice, his eyes watching her sorrowfully.

"From your destiny, I will do whatever it takes to free you from your destiny!" Turning her attention towards herself, she tried again, _"Help me! Just like you taught me how to use the sword, teach me how to subdue him. Teach me a method to win this battle, I will do anything for you!"_

**_"With only a kunai? You jest. Let me take over, I can win this."_**

_"No, this is my battle, I'm sorry, but I think I have to do this on my own."_

"There's no turning back, why do you even resist?" Gaara spoke softly, his eyes seemed saddened for some reason, possibly of what Sakura said to him. Yet, as sudden as it came, it was replaced with a determination to defeat Sakura.

"All the more reason to resist, I won't let anyone be suffer any longer, whether or not I am the cause of their suffering, I will fight for them!" With that said, Sakura dashed forward, a kunai stretched out straight in front of her. A wall of sand rose from Shukaku's skin and protected Gaara from the strike. Gaara remained deeply rooted onto the skin of Shukaku, even as Gama Bunta was fighting against the demon, the two children were so intense with what was happening between them that they did not notice anything outside their own little battlefield. "I will prove to you that I can help you, I will defeat you on my own!"

"Just die, Haruno Sakura," Gaara said, waving one hand from one side to another, a lump of sand rose to grab Sakura's feet.

**_"Jump."_**

Dodging, Sakura jumped forward and rolled towards Gaara, forcing the boy to take step back just as another wall of sand emerged from the surface.

**_"Focus my chakra onto your kunai, it might cut the sand."_**

Doing as she was told, Sakura slashed the sand wall with her kunai, which was surrounded with a green glow. The top part of the toppled over just as Sakura pulled out another kunai from her pouch.

**_"Too slow, faster!"_**

Infusing it with the same demonic chakra from Inner Sakura, Sakura threw it like a dart, it pierced through a secondary wall, but was stopped by a third.

"Is that all you got?" Gaara asked, not really an issue of challenge, more like a mix of curiosity and disappointment.

Gaara raised one fist, and slammed against Sakura with a wave of sand, knocking her down. Fallen but not stopped, Sakura threw the last kunai on her hand at Gaara once more, this time with all the demon chakra she could gather in her hand.

"Argh!" Sakura shouted as she threw it with all her might, the kunai burned in the flames of the infused demon chakra, glowing in a hue of bright green fury, it pierced through second wall. Gaara summoned forward another wall of sand, but the kunai suddenly accelerated, flying past the half-raised wall before it could be fully erected.

Unable to stop the kunai in time, but Gaara and Sakura watched it as it came closer and closer towards Gaara's face. Not expecting such fierce velocity in her throw, Sakura never had intention of killing Gaara, and could only hope as Gaara could protect himself against it. And it did, the kunai went only as far as an inch deep into Gaara's left cheek before bouncing off. Gaara cupped his bleeding left cheek with his left palm, and then looked shockingly at the blood left from the wound that was now staining his hand.

"I'm so glad," Sakura murmured softly, exhausted, Sakura fell on the spot, her face burying into the sandy surface of Shukaku. Before Gaara could even take a step forward, Sakura rose from her position once more, this time different. Her hair glowing softly, her eyes shining brightly, this Sakura was the demon herself.

**"I'm sorry, I can't let you hurt her, Gaara of the Desert,"** Inner Sakura whispered, her voice sounding void of emotion.

"Do you wish to fight me, Konohagakure Demon?" Gaara asked calmly, though in truth, he did not expect that to happen.

Entering a fighting stance, Inner Sakura answered, **"I promised her that I won't hurt you. Much."**

"She told me that she will defeat me in battle, I guess that I will have to wait another day for that to happen," Gaara answered while turning, Gaara walked away. "Come, we are leaving, Shukaku."

**"What?"** Shukaku answered shockingly. **"What you said, boy? You dare command me?!"**

"Go to sleep, Shukaku!" Gaara said once more, this time in a firmer voice. As if constrained by his will, Shukaku quivered violently and was slowly returning to its original state.

**"Such will, you can… control the legendary Sand Demon Shukaku?"** Inner Sakura asked with an equally surprised tone.

"I will leave today, Konohagakure Demon, protect her well," Gaara said, ignoring her question as he walked further away. The sand around them were slowly lowering them to ground level, in the distance, Gama Bunta watched the scene with astonishment at what was happening.

**"Wait! You wanted to be saved, don't you?"** Inner Sakura asked, and Gaara halted on his track momentarily before quickly assuming his walk. **"That's why you came to look for us, you wanted us to kill you."**

Not expecting Gaara to reply, Inner Sakura was taken aback when Gaara spoke in a steady and calm manner, "That much is true, Konohagakure Demon, though I have also planned to kill her if she is not strong enough. To free her from you, at least that much I can do for her, a fellow prisoner of fate."

**"What stopped you?"**

"I think you know the answer, Konohagakure Demon, whoever you are, you do not mean harm to the girl. You are different from Shukaku or any other demons, you are a prisoner of fate as well."

Inner Sakura said nothing, and only watched as Gaara surrounded himself with a sphere of ring. Just as he departed from the battlefield, a soft voice came from within the sphere, saying, "I bleed, like mortal men do, I am not that different after all."

**x**

Hizashi Naruto held the pocket watch in his hand, watching silently from the distance at the damage caused by Gaara and Gama Bunta. Looking down, he noted of the pile of dust left behind by the collapsed Hakkotsu shell. Naruto believed that he had the rights to know the truth now. All the distractions in the world meant nothing to Naruto, all he wanted to know was what happened?

**x**

Uchiha Sasuke opened his eyes for the first time since he collapsed from using Chidori, around him were medics running about, tending to the wounded. A sting from his hands caused him to look down at his heavily bandaged hands. Around him, reinforcement had arrived, and order was now restoring to Practice Area 44. In a distance, Jiraiya was carried in by a stretcher, but all these meant nothing to Sasuke, all he wanted to know was one thing, where was Ino?

**X**

The Tako who was now Kagetsu put down the mirror with trembling hands, the mirror known as Yata no Kagami was calling her, no, it was calling him. And the same prophecy was given, seeing what Kagetsu saw thirty-two years ago, Tako who was now Kagetsu understood that it was telling how it would happen, but did not give an ending. Perhaps it was Kagetsu's own fleeing hope that resulted in her seeing the chosen one saving the world with the Forbidden Tomb, and perhaps of Tako's own horrible past that caused him to see otherwise. It was not a prophecy but a warning.

Pleased with what he saw, he concluded that the end of the world would be a fitting ending.


	49. Inner Sakura

**Act 7: Howls of the Beasts  
Chapter 49: Inner Sakura  
**Updated on: 15 July, 2012

* * *

"Akatsuki," a voice whispered from the dark, thought it was more like of a thought spoken out loud.

Even in a world of advancing technological achievements, there were always needs for travelling performing artists, and by chance or by fate, a woman from Fire Country found herself joining a crew of three to travel the world. On the same horse-driven wagon, a young man questioned with a simple hum.

"Hmm?" he asked, though his eyes were closed, his mind was still very much awake. Her voice reminded him that he was no longer alone, and rubbed his eyes with the back of his palms, pretending to have just awoken from a nap.

The girl did not seem to mind that she woke him up, either that or she knew it was just an act. "Akatsuki. You said you're forming a group, it would need a name. Akatsuki."

"Akatsuki… Dawn," the young repeated her words, and smiled at its meaning. "Nice, I like it."

Pushing himself back up into a sitting position while trying not to wake up his sister, he reached out towards the sleeping infant in her arms, and brushed the hair aside.

"You should give her name first before anything else."

"I was hoping the father would name her," the girl replied with a tiny smile, her eyes went over to the month old baby, then to the man sitting before her. Though the inside of the wargon was dark, a clear gleam was in his eyes.

"Isaka Sakura," he answered clearly and without any hesitation, as if he had that in mind all along.

**x**

Sakura sleepily pried open the drowsy pair of eyes, something woke her, a dream or a nightmare, she could not tell. Like all dreams, details quickly fled her, a face was all she could recall, but it too hid itself in the shadows.

Sakura surveyed the room she was in, it was her own bedroom, yet it felt different, a wall poster that was not supposed to be there, the table was moved, the curtains and bed sheets were different from before, yet she knew these were hers. It felt like she had some distance memories of staying in this same room before, but in a different time, a much warmer and cosier place than it was now. She could almost hear the voice of a brother calling her to get out of her bed to come down for breakfast. She could imagine the sight of a boy with golden hair waiting outside the gate. Yet, Sakura wondered whose memories were those?

She looked at the windows, and noted that this was the same place when Naruto first broke into her house. The bed she was on, Ino sat on it many times whenever she visited her. Even Iruka had visited her once when she fell sick, and was worried about her, and there he stood at the door, embarrassed at entering a girl's bedroom. Sakura smiled at the almost sweet memories of friends and people she loved. Sakura realised that she felt old.

Sakura dressed and combed her hair, having decided that after her visit to the Hokage, she would change her curtains and bed sheets, knowing that as long as she was alive, the memories would stay in her heart. Though Ino was yet to be found, and she had not seen either Sasuke or Naruto for the last few days since that incident at the Forest of Death, she knew one day everything would be all right again.

But even with everything going about, it was comforting to know Inner Sakura to be at least always be there for her, only last night did the demon told her off for her choice of having instant noodles as her dinner again. However, at times the demon could prove troublesome, sometime mumbling unintelligent sentences that did not make much sense.

Sakura locked the door behind her as she left the house, half-wondering why the Hokage requested her to meet him today, he appeared grim, and it seemed like he did not had any good sleep lately.

Right next door to her house was Iruka's house, built in the same time and around the same design, as if all the houses in this street were rolled out of the same assembly line. Iruka once said that for many generations both the Uminos and the Harunos were two small but close families. Curiously, Sakura spotted Iruka-sensei at his yard with a watering can in one hand, he appeared to be speaking to someone.

The creaking of the gate announced her presence to the two of them, Iruka turned just as another familiar figure stepped to one side to have a better look at her. Sakura recognised her as the Jounin who held one of the Chuunin exam, his name was Gekkou Hayate.

The pale Jounin waved gloomily at her, on his back was a beautiful black katana, the hilt was red and the scabbard was beautifully decorated with golden designs of waves and lines.

"Good morning, Sakura-chan," Iruka greeted as he smiled warmly at the girl. Hayate walked over to her as Iruka introduced the Jounin to her. "Sakura-chan, this is Gekkou Hayate, I think you two met briefly before."

Before Sakura could greet either of them, Hayate walked up to her as he waved farewell to Iruka. "Morning, Sakura-chan," Hayate said almost fitfully. Subduing his coughs, he smiled grimly. "Mind if I walk you to the Hokage-sama's place?"

Sakura appeared momentarily surprised as Iruka waved goodbye at them, Hayate offered no suggestion as to why he knew of their meeting. Saying nothing between the two of them, they walked down the street towards the centre of the village. They remained awkwardly quiet until Hayate started saying something about himself, "I am from the Gekkou clan, had your uncle was still here with us, you would have probably heard of us. A pity that he-," Hayate cut off his sentence there, as if realising it was a bad starter topic.

Sakura was surprised again, this was the first time she heard anything about her uncle, Haruno Nobara.

"The Gekkous and the Harunos prided ourselves as being the best swordsmen in Konohagakure, and we liked to think of each other as rivals."

Again, something new, Sakura wondered what this was leading to.

Hayate removed the katana hanging on his back, and offered Sakura a feel of the sword, which Sakura did. The moment Sakura got a firm hold on the katana, Hayate let go of the beautifully designed sheathed blade, letting Sakura had a feel of its almost feather-like weight and its smooth yet detailed designs decorating the scabbard.

"It's light," Sakura noted to herself aloud, she did not expect a weapon like this to be so comfortable in her hand, she thought of playing with it for a while but quickly decided to return it. Hayate gently pushed the katana back much to Sakura's surprise.

"It's yours," Hayate said, his face turned dead serious about the suggestion.

"I can't possibly accept this!" Sakura protested.

"That blade is not ours as well, we found it from the enemy, and identified it as a legendary blade, Kusanagi no Tsurugi, a blade said to be unbreakable." Seeing Sakura's confusion, Hayate continued as quickly as his coughing permitted. "Hokage-sama gave it to us, seeing we are a specialised katana clan, but I decided this may serve more use with you, Sakura-chan."

That did not help Sakura, she was still stunned with what was going on, the blade felt light in hands, and she faintly remember seeing one of the enemies carrying before, she could not help but wonder how many lives this blade had taken.

Before she noticed, Hayate was already walking a few steps ahead. Picking up her pacing, she caught up to the adult, just in time as he continued, "Though you have no proper training in the swordplay, I noticed… that you are getting better wielding a sword, thus I reasoned that you may need this one day for your next mission."

"My next mission?"

"No, I… heard nothing official, but my guess is as good as Hokage-sama's, with a sudden shortage of deployable adults, the younger Genins and Chuunins may be deployed for more dangerous missions."

The two of them walked awkwardly for the rest of the journey, until they came upon a crossroad.

"My house is over there," Hayate murmured as he pointed a trembling finger to his left. "Visit me if don't mind the company of a sick man. Well, see you later."

"Good bye Gekkou-sensei, thanks for the…," Sakura said as she watched Hayate literally disappeared before her eyes.

Looking down at the blade, she wondered about his intention, and whether or not Hayate truly knew what was going to happen to her.

"Ah, Sakura-chan," someone called behind her.

Turning around, Sakura spotted Hinata walking towards her. "Good morning, Hinata-chan," Sakura said as she quickly put her hand through the sling connected to the scabbard and carried it on her back.

"Good morning, Sakura-chan," Hinata smiled as she walked besides her. "Are you meeting with Hokage-sama as well?"

"Huh? You too? I didn't expect that, I was told to meet him at ten in the morning, and I wasn't informed that anyone else is coming as well."

"Ten? We were told to meet at twelve, and I heard that the others are also meeting at twelve as well."

"Then, isn't it a little too early for you to leave now?"

"Oh, I just don't want to be late."

"Strange, I was told ten. Who else is coming at twelve?"

"Shikamaru-kun, Chouji-kun, Haku-chan, Kiba-kun, Shino-kun, and I think Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun as well."

"Hm, that's everyone but myself," Sakura curiously remarked, wondering why.

"Sa-Sakura-chan," Hinata murmured quickly, before Sakura could ask her what was wrong, she continued quickly, half stuttering. "Um, do you think- I mean, is it true- true that, Na-Na-Naruto-kun is the son of the Fourth Hokage?"

"What? Really?!" Sakura asked her back in turn, her eyes opened wide in shock. "I have no idea…"

"Shino-kun said that the Fourth had a wife whose family name was Uzumaki, and their son was called Naruto," Hinata reasoned, taking her head down as she murmured softer and softer.

Sakura paused in her footsteps suddenly, looking blankly at Hinata, "I think you're right… Why didn't anyone of us see the connection before?" As weird as it might sound, it seemed that everything new to her surprised her, things she knew before, things she was not expecting. Sakura could not keep up with the rapid change of pacing of the world around her.

The two of them exchanged a little between them, television shows that were showing last night, books they had read before, nothing serious. Hinata struggled not to bring up the topic of Naruto, knowing that every time when Naruto was the centre of the discussion, Hinata would feel hot in her cheeks and feeling all so uncomfortable and nervous.

The pair of girls arrived at the centre of the village before parting. "Well, I will wait over there at the park until the Kiba-kun and Shino-kun arrive."

"See you later, Hinata-chan."

Sakura entered the building by herself, no one paid no heed to her as they went on own businesses. A minute passed before she found herself standing right before the set of doors, the guard at the doors knocked twice before opening slightly to let her in, apparently the guard was notified of her arrival.

"Welcome, Sakura-chan, sit, sit," the Hokage said as she stood from his seat behind the desk and circled around it to come closer to Sakura, leading her towards a set of sofa with a matching coffee table. Sarutobi wondered how he should start this, his mind usually calm and composed was now in a mess.

"Have you ever wondered why you were chosen to be the container for the demon twelve years ago?" the Hokage asked out of blue, turning his back as he walked away, as if struggling with what he was planning to tell Sakura, he briefly hesitated.

"Sir? I was told by Iruka-sensei that… I was chosen because the demon is a female, and a female container works better. Also, I was young enough to have my chakra mould to suit the demon's chakra, to coexist better," Sakura answered, unconsciously moving one hand over her belly, at where the original seal was forged.

"Yes, indeed," the Hokage said, answering her doubt, he paused for a while, as if buying some time to calm himself down. "What Umino-sensei said was true, at least to the extent to what he was told."

Sakura's eyes brightened, catching the hint in the sentence, she noted the pained expression on the older man's face.

"At that time, your uncle, Haruno Nobara, he… left the village shortly after the attack from the demon on our village, and was about to the branded a Missing-nin. Without a guardian, you were left in an orphanage."

That much Sakura knew herself, until she was older, she stayed in that orphanage, after which, she regained the house that was still under the Harunos name. Time froze for her, as she watched ever so slowly as Sarutobi's lips parted to continue his story, "Though there were a few other girls in the orphanage, I chose you in the end.

"Chose?" Sakura asked, she did not like where this conversation was heading, and for once, wished that Inner Sakura was here with her, even her endless pointless mindless chatters and rants could soothe her mind now.

"Indeed, to seal the demon effectively, a female container would be a better choice. The Fourth Hokage was stubborn, he was not willing to sacrifice anyone's child but his own, but his son was just a few weeks old back then, still too weak to undergo the ritual, not to mention as earlier that as a male, he would not suit well being the female demon's container. While the Fourth fought against the demon, I was weighted by the decision as to who I would bring to the Fourth Hokage, before entering the battle, he _ordered_ me to bring his son to him."

Sakura's expressions told Sarutobi everything, she did not expect that, without wasting another moment, the Hokage continued, "Based on that single knowledge that he did not know, I chose not to use his son, and instead, I picked you, among all the children in the orphanage, I picked you. He trusted me, even to his death, he had believed that his son was sacrificed to be the container for the greater good."

"I…," Sakura stuttered, looking rather painfully at the Hokage, wondering if this feeling was the same as what they would call 'betrayal'. The face wore by the Hokage now was none other than 'guilt'! Despite all these, Sakura was surprised that she found the strength to ask a question, "What do you know that the Fourth did not?"

"The demon that attacked Konohagakure was different from common demon, she was incredibly powerful, and was not born to this world naturally, she was… created. Because of this, I understand that to make the sealing successfully, I must choose you, for the reason that… you are blood related to the demon."

Sakura gave the Hokage a blank look, she failed to understand what he was trying to say. Seeing this, the Hokage tried again, "Sakura-chan, your mother, Haruno Hana, was the demon that attacked Konohagakure twelve years ago."

All of the sudden, the room was dreadfully silent.

"Almost thirteen years ago, your mother left the village and became a Missing-nin, she returned months later with you in her hands, and also brought along a new threat. One of them is a man who has the power that matched even to our Fourth Hokage, in the battle between the two fighters, your mother was… killed in battle by accident by the Fourth's special bloodline ability, Kyuushuuryoku. It is the ability to convert matter to the energy-like chakra, inflicted by the effect, she was killed, but also changed. When we were preparing for her burial, I discovered that despite being motionless, something else was alive in her body."

Sakura fell backwards, her back found the support of the sofa she was on, her mind momentarily a blank.

_"Hizashi's Kyuushuuryoku… Naruto's Kyuushuuryoku…"_

Sakura recalled the battle he had with Haku, that fearsome power, it was the ability to dissolve solid matter into pure chakra energy.

"I sought the advice from my best doctors, at that time, none of us knew what was happening to your mother, but one thing was clear. The village was still in danger, it would be the matter of time before the Fourth and the villain fight again, and that the news of your mother must not reach him, lest he be distracted by the changes happening in her caused _by_ him. We chose to withhold her status from the world at least for the time being until the enemies were defeated, not even your uncle knows about it."

"My- The demon- What?" Sakura asked. So many questions flooded her head, she could not decide whether to ask the Third or… the demon inside her. _"Are you there?"_

"Is the demon there, Sakura-chan?" the Third asked.

A sudden anger flared up in her heart, bolting up onto her feet. "How dare you called her a demon?!" Tears flowed from her eyes, flooding the cheeks.

All the memories she had was not her own, but her mother's. A bit here and there of the strange mumbling made sense all of the sudden.

"Despite her recovery, your mother was never the same again, she behaved violently, and remembered nothing. One day, she escaped from our care, and grew to great proportion, madness overran her mind and she tried to destroy everything. That night, she was sealed within you."

Sakura collapsed back onto the sofa, saying nothing as she stared into the ceiling fan. Rotating round and round ever so slowly.

"Is… your mother here with us? Can she hear us?" the Third asked again.

Sakura said nothing, ignoring everything as she fled deep into within her heart, seeking to find the demon who taught her the ways of the katana. The same demon who lectured her and screamed at her for her every mistake, and the same demon who was there for her when she needed a support. "_Do you know? Mum, is that you? Do you know that I am your daughter?"_

**_"No… It can't be…,"_** Inner Sakura whispered within her head, in a tone Sakura had never heard before, it was as if the voice belonged to a frightened little girl, weeping softly.

Sakura threw her eyes wide opened, she sensed her for a moment, a quick reply. She was here with them, she heard everything!

_"Mum! I am your daughter! I'm Sakura!"_

**_"No! It's not possible!"_** Inner Sakura stopped for a while, an almost unnoticeable whimper was heard before the voice mutated into something different, stronger, older: **_"I'M STILL ALIVE! I AM MEETING HIM LATER THIS AFTERNOON! WE ARE GOING TO WATCH A MOVIE AT THE CINEMA! WHO ARE YOU?! I'M HARU- I'M- Who am I?"_**

_"Mum! Mother!"_ Sakura called out to her inner counterpart, once thought to be a someone she was unable to handle, who became a valuable ally, and finally she became her mother, Haruno Hana.

**_"GET OUT OF _****MY_ HEAD! GET OUT! WHO ARE YOU? WHO ARE YOU?! WHERE AM I?!"_** Her tone and pitch changed once more, becoming the usual demon Sakura knew of, a voice of monstrous volume and low pitch, one could hardly tell if the voice belonged to a male or a female. Sometimes she sounded like a weeping child, sometimes she sounds like a mad woman.

Sakura reached out in her mind, she imagined herself reaching out towards the originator of the screams. She instantly found herself standing once more before the barred prison, she remembered this place, it resembled a sewer with its round walls. Behind the bars was darkness, yet she could hear weeping. She walked closer to the prison, a young girl could now be seen within the darkness. Rocking herself as she cried, the girl from behind the bars lifted her head to look at her, her face enlarged and paled as it grew demonic features.

**_"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!"_**

White claws clashed against the bars, threatening to tear the bars down. Sakura screamed, despite knowing who that demon really was, Sakura screamed.

Sakura woke up, she found herself breathing heavily, and the Third's face hovering close over hers with concern all over his eyes. She found him repulsive all of the sudden, and pushed him away.

**_"GET OUT OF MY HEAD! Ple- Please get out…"_**

"I'm sorry," the old man cried. "I'm so sorry, Hana."

**_" 'Hana…'? Who…? RUN! I MUST- Why? Where am- I MUST- I must warn them-d"_**

Sakura found herself onto her feet and ran out of the room. She ran with all her might. She ran past the guard, ran downstairs, ran out the front door, and ran past the park where Hinata and Shino were. Hinata tried to call out her name, but Shino halted her, sensing something was wrong.

Sakura continued running, passing Kiba who appeared shocked at her sudden appearance. Passing the food stall where Chouji and Shikamaru were waiting for Haku. She had no idea where she was running to, anywhere but _here_. She ran into Sasuke, and the two of them crashed at around the corner, causing both of them fell onto their bottoms.

**_"Saki-san told me that I will have a beautiful daugh-"_**

"Sakura, are you all right?" Sasuke called, reaching out with his hands to hold her as she tried to run once more. He pulled at her wrist as she attempted to flee, finding the resistance holding her, she turned around and crashed onto his shoulders instead. Her eyes red and wet, buried within his chest.

She was going insane, the cries of the demon continued on, "**_Akatsuki…"_** Over and over again, her cries drowned Sasuke's attempts to bring Sakura back into his world. Unable to do anything, he closed her arms around her, closing the circle as Sakura's arms wrapped around his neck.

Neither of them said anything, as both Sakura and Hana cried, his right hand ran through her hair, trying to calm her down. He whispered all sorts of things into her ear, trying to get her attention. They stayed like this for many minutes, not moving at all before Sakura suddenly removed her head off his shoulder.

**_"I MUST WARN THEM! HOW COULD HEEEEEEEEE?!"_**

Sakura avoided his glance and turned away, mumbling 'sorry' and different kinds of apologies to him.

"Are you okay?" Sasuke asked. His shoulder was cold, wet, and numb, but he could not care less about his shoulder right now.

**_"Itwas- findoutabout- WHEREAMI? Hisdestinythatwe- Ihavehischild-"_**

Her voice still screaming in her head, Sakura muttered a 'fine', though she certainly did not look like it.

"Sasuke-kun, do you know where Naruto-kun is?"

Sasuke lifted one eyebrow in surprise.

**_"Icouldnotbelieve- What- Whatareyoudoing- Itisallmyfault- Iletthem-"_**

"Sasuke-kun, don't you feel that the days when the three of us together were so good? When the both of you are there with me, I feel… safe," Sakura whispered and smiled at the same time as she wiped the tears with both her sleeves. "I just want us to be together…"

"I know where he is, I saw him just now as I passed through," Sasuke said, uncertain of what he was planning to do. "Come."

**_"Neverhaveiseen- KIMIKO! Watchout! Suchterribleeyes! DON'T!"_** Inner Sakura screamed within her head. With its meaning lost within its echoes, Sakura failed to hear it.

Grabbing onto her hand, he pulled her into the direction where he came from, despite her current condition, he was surprised to find her able to keep up. Feeling the need to find Naruto quick, Sasuke picked up speed, and jumped from the road onto the top of a brick wall, then onto a rooftop where the two of them went from one to another, until they approached near the Hokage mountain, where the faces of the four Hokages were incised onto the surface.

**_"There he is."_** Once again, Sakura failed to catch its meaning, confusing it as her own thought, glad to find her team-mate again.

In the distance, Sakura saw a little spot of moving object on top of the Fourth's nose, and already felt better just be seeing him. Naruto sat upright as he noticed the two of them leaping his way, he kept the silver pocket watch into his pocket and cleared some space for the two of them to make their landing.

**_"My dear Sakura-chan, my daughter…"_**

Sasuke and Sakura ran up the side of the mountain, a task they had never attempted before, the mountain was incredibly high, and for a moment Sasuke wondered if they were going to make it. As they approached the lips of the Fourth, Sasuke used all his strength to throw Sakura up before catching hold onto the edge of the nose. Naruto laughed at his attempt before giving Sasuke a helping hand just as Sakura recovered from her rough landing.

**_"Ara- Arashi- Kimiko, they-!"_** Sakura was too mentally stressed out to try to decipher the code, and Inner Sakura was not helping with her speaking tens of lines at the same time.

"What are you two doing here?" Naruto asked, before he noticed Sakura's red and puffy eyes. "What happened?"

**_"Where are you Kimiko? I'm scared…"_**

"The same can be asked to you, you moron," Sasuke mumbled. "You disappeared from sight for days."

**_"I know you are afraid to be alone too, that's why we promised to play fair, to each fight for his love."_**

Naruto laughed embarrassingly, running his hand through his untamed bed hair. His eyes appeared red and he had black eye bags as well, as if only recently did Naruo been doing nothing but lying on the bed without moving at all.

**_"Lies and liars."_**

"I just wanted to see you, Naruto-kun," Sakura answered. Naruto appeared surprised and laughed again, grinning widely.

"It's almost twelve o'clock, let's talk on our way there, we are already late," Naruto said as he prepared to jump off the slope that was the nose of the Fourth.

**_"She is my friend, she is afraid of nothing, nothing except to lose us. I did not hesitate as I saved her life…"_**

"No, wait!" Sakura called as she pulled him back with the tug of his jacket. "Can't we stay here for a bit more?" She tried her best to smile, and managed to force back her tears. Her head was still filled with screams and mumblings by her mother, it was amazing how she was still able to retain her sanity with all that noise. Although she did notice that noise in her head was beginning to die down, the sentences were no longer jumbled up, Sakura realised that some of the sentences were actually composed of actual words now.

**_"Isaka S- We met- 'Sakura', that is a nice name- They took care of me when I- Isaka Shin-"_**

Naruto said nothing, as if knowing everything that happened, smiled and popped back into a sitting position, placing himself on the right side of the nose, looking out into the streets and buildings below them. Sasuke followed suit on the left side, looking into the forest where Ino disappeared into.

Sakura sat down between them, her arms opened and put them around the necks of the two boys, surprising them as she pulled them closer to her. The two boys were using chakra to stick onto the surface so they would not slip, but their sitting positions were awkward and uncomfortable, but neither boy complained, she needed them now.

"Let's make a promise that we will be together forever."

**_"A promise to be broken…"_**

For the first time, Sakura heard her, clearer than before, saner than before, a warning to her or to herself. Before Sakura could ask her what she meant Sasuke turned his head up, and looked at Sakura. He gave a rare smile and nodded. Naruto looked away for a second, avoiding their eyes before quickly turning around and gave them his silly smirk, saying, "Of course."

The three of them put their right hands together, and just remained in that position without moving, each of them were running through the promise in their head. Sakura smiled, for the moment forgotten about her mother's warning.

**_"Sakura-chan…,"_** Inner Sakura called out to her.

_"Mum!"_ Suddenly aware of her calling out to her daughter, Sakura called back, to the darkness within her.

**_"Where are you, Sakura-chan? My daughter… Are you still alive? Are you safe..?"_**

"Are you all right?" Naruto asked, only then that Sakura realised that she had spaced out right in front of them.

"I'm fine," Sakura answered quickly, while her inner conscious dived back into the depth of her mind, returning once more to the jail-like structure. Ignoring everything outside, she focused all her attention within her mind.

_"Mum, I'm here, I'm Sakura."_

For the first time since she first met her inner demon, the girl behind the bar was clearer than ever. A girl almost identical to herself, it was Haruno Hana when she was only twelve years ago. She gave Sakura a sad smile, a smile unlike one she had seen from her before, at the moment, Sakura noticed the dreaded calm within her mind and realised that the one standing before her was her true mother, not one tarnished by the influence of the demonic self.

Hana reached out from behind the bars, her hand straining to reach her daughter. Tears flowed as her lips cracked to mouth unheard words. Sakura ran forward to reach for her, but found the distance between them widening for each step she took.

Before the image of her mother grew fainter, she witnessed before her as the jailed girl grew in age until she was only twenty years old before she died in battle. Just before the image disappeared totally into the darkness, at last, her mother's words reached her as echoes: **_"Sakura-chan, I'm sorry… that I have been- have been a- I love- a bad mother- Must beware- love you- beware- Must beware of- and your- your father- of him-"_**

Sakura was threw back out into the physical world, panicking, Sakura hurried to try to return to her mother's side, but found the way back barred from her, as if now hidden, she could no longer feel the presence of the second conscious within her mind.

This time, it was Sasuke who voiced his concern. "Are you okay, Sakura?!"

"We better take her to see the Hokage," Naruto suggested as he put one of Sakura's arms around his shoulder, and supported her into a standing position.

"No… I'm fine," Sakura tried to answer, but found her voice too soft to be heard. As if exhausted by the trips back and forth, Sakura found no strength at all to resist Naruto and Sasuke as they brought him to the last place she wanted to be.

Both Harunos stayed quiet for the remainder of the trip back to the Hokage Tower, exhausted, both girls fell asleep.

When Sakura next opened her eyes, she found the familiar ceiling of the Hokage's room above her head. Without turning her head, she knew she was back in that old man's office again, probably resting on the sofa.

A soft 'ahh' came from Hinata before turning around to call out to the others. It was then that Sakura noticed all of her friends were here with her, even Lee and his team-mates. Soon, familiar faces gathered around her, pushing them aside were Sasuke and Naruto.

"On our way here, you collapsed on us," Sasuke explained.

"Are you all right? You scared us quite a bit there," Naruto said.

Another familiar voice called out to the children. "Please, let her have some breathing space," it was the Third. Despite how exhausted she was, she forced herself to sit back upright, embarrassed and uneasy about the commotion caused by her fatigue, though it was comforting to see all her friends with her, some of them appeared worried, some of them putting on a brave front for her sake.

"Please rest, Sakura-chan," the Third said, "I have already told the children that we will discuss the missions another time, in the meanwhile, please rest. I will have one of the teachers send you home later."

Alarmed, Sakura had already totally forgotten about the mission briefings. As one by one started to leave the room, she hesitantly called them back. "No, wait, please continue with the briefings, I am feeling better now."

"Don't force yourself," said one of the kids, and of all people, it was Shino. There was a moment of silence while Hinata and Kiba recovered from their shock. No one could see through Shino's shades, and no one could predict next what could come out of his mouth, fortunately for the sake of their sanity, he appeared to have chosen to remain silent once more.

Breaking the silence was Lee. "All right, that's the spirit, Sakura-chan!" Lee praised with one raised fist while giving off a polished smile.

"If that is your wish, Sakura-chan, let's continue…"

The only adult and the children gathered themselves nearer to the desk, at where the Third positioned himself. The Third shifted through his documents for a second before looking up once more saying, "As you all may have noticed, due to the recent mishap with the attacks by the enemies, many of our Chuunins were injured. However, due to political reasons, we have no choice but to continue on with our contracts with our host country. The shortage of manpower has forced us into deploying instructors out to field, that including the four instructors in charged of your teams, except for Gai-sensei, who is still in hospital."

"Ah, that explained why we can't find Asuma-sensei," Chouji mumbled sadly, somewhat disappointed due the fact that Asuma had promised them that he would treat them every weekend for lunch whenever possible.

Surprisingly none of the kids in Neiji's team were surprised, they knew of Gai's condition, and had visited him every day. Gai's injury was not that bad, but just he could not run or jump for the time being.

"I can't disclose their whereabouts, Yuhi-sensei, Asuma-sensei and Kakashi-sensei are already on a mission far away from here. However, their current situations are not why we are here, due to their deployment, studies for the twelve of you have been disrupted, thus I have assigned new instructors for your next missions."

"We are going on a mission with another instructor?" Kiba noted interestingly, while Yuhi Kurenai was an excellent instructor to him, he would not mind another instructor if that was to mean he could learn more. Kiba eyed Naruto from the corner of his eyes, similarly Akamaru barked softly at Naruto, though it went unnoticed.

"I have reassigned the twelve of you into three teams based on your skills necessary for the missions."

"What?!" Naruto literally jumped from his spot. His protest was voiced by others as well with the same opinion as they started discussing among themselves.

"Please hear me, Naruto-kun, this is for the best, and is a decision made by the council and myself. The three teams will be composing of-"

"Hey, wait a sec," Naruto tried once more, but found himself being pulled back by the hand. He turned and saw Sasuke carrying the same expression of surprise as his… Holding them by their hands was Sakura, her head hanging low and her eyes hidden away from them.

"-four Genins each, the first team will be known as Team 21 from now on. They will be travelling north-east to Lightning Country, they will be tasked into finding the missing Sennin, and escort her back safely-"

"Sa… Sakura," Sasuke answered as he held on tightly to her hand.

"It's going to be fine, we made a promise, we will be together…," Sakura whispered to them alone, her eyes remained hidden by her hair.

"-Team 22 will be heading north-west to Waterfall Country, they are to look for a missing friend of ours, Yamanka Ino-"

Shikamaru and Chouji looked up at the Hokage, eager to hear the Third announcing the two of them in Team 22.

Naruto said nothing as he threw a glare back at the Hokage, while tightening his grip onto Sakura's hand as well.

"-and finally Team 23 will be going south-west to Wind Country, they have to rescue someone, who we believe will prove inevitable in our plans in the future…"

The Hokage suppressed a sigh as he witnessed the three of them holding hands, there was no choice in the matter he reminded himself once more.

"Team 21 will be composing of Uzumaki Naruto, Inuzuka Kiba, Hyuuga Hinata, and Haku. Morino Ibiki will be leading the four of you to find Tsunade, her retrieval is of the topmost importance to the injured in need of her medical knowledge."

"Jiraiya-sensei…," Naruto whispered to himself, using his free hand massaging his aching forehead. _"Clearly the council and the old man have decided among themselves that three of us proved too valuable to be placed together, by separating us, they reduced the chance of all of us being captured all in one scoop. No doubt that Sasuke and Sakura-chan are being slotted into separate teams as well."_

"Team 22 will be in charge of recovering Ino-chan, who we believe to be lost in Waterfall Country's forest, though we suspect that others may be looking for her as well… Mitarashi Anko will be leading Nara Shinkamaru, Rock Lee, Akimichi Chouji, and Uchiha Sasuke in this mission."

_"Ino… We are separated?"_ Feeling a sudden change of presences, Sasuke turned around and was surprised to find three adults standing behind them, apparently went unnoticed, who was to know how long they had been standing there? Mirino Ibiki, Mitarashi Anko and…

"Gekkou Hayate will be leading Team 23, together with Hyuuga Neji, Tenten, Haruno Sakura, and Aburame Shino," after the Third assigned the third and final team, he pointed to the back of the room and continued: "You may have noticed that your new instructors are already here. All teams are to depart by tomorrow the latest, and please bear in mind that the missions you have been chosen for are of greatest urgency."

The Hokage continued his speech, introducing to them the three instructors in charge of the new teams, answering queries from the children, spilling out one reason after another why the new teams were chosen.

Yet Sakura heard none of these, at this moment, she had forgotten all about the Hokage and Gekkou Hayate for lying to her, all she could think of right now was the disbandment of Team 7, her family. The strength in her hands faltered and wavered, her grips onto their hands loosened.

It was for a short moment, but both boys renewed their strength in their hold of Sakura's hands, squeezing her fingers gently, telling her that they were still there.

**x**

In a forest within Fire Country, the night was silenced by intrusion of the Sand-nins. Retreated from the recent battle at Konohagakure, the remaining numbers of the Hidden Sand Jounins camped here within the darkness. In a tent in the middle of the temporary compound, Gaara of the Sand entered through the flaps with his gourd still on his back, he watched as his brother wiping off his face-paint with a cloth while holding a handheld mirror in his left hand.

Kankurou looked up briefly to see who it was, before turning around to check on his sister sleeping on a bed behind him, Temari, who since the battle was weakened and had been resting a lot lately. Her complexion was better, and she was no longer in danger, but both her brothers still worried about her

"I am no longer safe, my usefulness is of no more now that I betrayed them. The moment I chose not to turn in Sakura, I have become an enemy of Akatsuki. I will not be returning to Sunagakure with Baki and the others, Kankurou," Gaara said all of the sudden, making no attempt to even whisper, possibly because he knew no one could stop him anyway.

Kankurou almost dropped his mirror, and looked back at Gaara with a half-stunned look.

"What about father? Wouldn't he do something?" Kankurou offered his idea.

"The current Kazekage is not our father, our father died a few weeks ago," Gaara said as he sat down opposite of Kankurou.

Kankurou blinked a few times, totally shocked at what was being told to him. Sure, none of the siblings liked their father a lot, but they were still related by blood. He wanted to ask Gaara how he found out, or when he found out, or when it all happened, but figured that he should just cut to the chase.

"I- We're going with you," Kankurou said, not even offering as explanation why he wanted to go with him, in fact, Kankurou himself was kind of surprised he said that himself. _"We are still real family,"_ he told himself.

"No, you will stay here with Tema-"

"Gaara, listen to your older brother for once, I am sure Temari will say the same. Give us a day, and we will leave with you."

Gaara said nothing, and face revealed nothing as to what was in his mind. Standing up, he turned to leave. "We will leave at tomorrow's nightfall."

**x**

The Sound Five returned from their mission to find their village razed to the ground, and their allies murdered. Kidomaru kneeled down briefly in front of remains of their home and picked up a small piece of sliced up rock in one hand, only to throw it over his shoulder behind him.

The rock hit Jiroubou's mohawk head, but he said nothing as he silently took the punishment, he himself felt like picking up the largest rock he could manage and throw it at the ruins. The crumbling of bricks and wood announced the return of their leader.

Shaking his head, the leader of the Sound Five indicated that nothing was salvageable. "We have no other choice, we will head back to Fire Country, and reunite with Kabuto."

"Damn that Kitahara Jiro," Sakon spoke. Another voice came from behind his back. "He sure did a great job in cleaning up the mess."

The four of them left the scene with Tayuya alone in the ruins, who then proceeded to mouth every single vulgarities known to man and invented a few more.

**x**

If one travel along the dirt path from Konohagakure to the country capital which only native animals would know, somewhere along the way, one would find a giant man squatting before a gentle undisturbed mud puddle. Donning a straw hat that covered much of the head and the eyes, he 'looked' down into the pool, and seemed to be waiting for something. Then a ripple pop in the middle of the puddle, satisfied with something, he reached into the shallow water and retrieved a glass marble with a stone carp within it.

Regaining her position next to the man was Motomiya Miyuki, the junior archer specialist of Akatsuki joined up with Uchiha Massaki, the betrayer of the village, and the murderer of many his clan members (though that was overshadowed by another Uchiha Massache incident which downplay his own contribution to the bloody history of the Uchihas). Sixteen by age, Chuunin by rank, Miyuki wore her usual leather breastplate over a simple white tunic with the left sleeve noticeably larger than the other, and unlike the other women of their organisation, she was the only one with short hair styled in crop fashion.

"Is he mad at us?" the girl asked, "Sir," she added after a brief afterthought.

The 'he' would of course be none other than their leader, whom for some reason Miyuki deeply respect. Uchiha Massaki never asked for a partner, and he did not know what did to deserve this, but somehow he became her partner. Overtime, he got used to her irritating presence, he hated to admit it, but she had her uses, her sight to compremend his lack of. However, if it was one thing he could not stand about her, was her manner, she always call people by their first name or even give crude nicknames, regardless of their status or seniority, not even if the person was her partner, mentor, or even the maker of her eye. Except for one person, he knew their leader held a sort of charisma over common people, but the way the girl treated him was like they had been friends for years.

Though they own a headquarter or two at various places, the members of Akatsuki rarely meet up, and radio transceivers or any other wireless technologies could only cover so much in the wilderness, because of so, Kitahara Jiro, another member of Akatsuki established their standard channel of communication using his mastery in summon beasts. Should someone needed to reach out to any of the 'marble-hearer', all he needed to do was to put the marble into any source of water, and likewise, should the marble vibrate, the bearer can answer the call with the same method.

"It wasn't him, just Kitahara, bragging that he got his Hidden Scroll… and the Tsuchikage's dead," Massaki grumbled.

"We still got the Forbidden Scroll of the Leaf, right? We can go for that!"

"He also said that it has been recovered, didn't say by whom."

"Then, let's try Hokage again! We can't lose out to the others, even Oro-chi got his Kazekage and Forbidden Scroll before kicking the bucket," she suggested.

"Give that man some respect, call him by his name for at least once," Massaki muttered. He never knew how Miyuki ended up in Akatsuki, but he knew that Orochimaru was the one who returned him his sight, and Motomiya, her special eye. Though for the recent years, neither of them was been close, they were once friend, and till the moment his death was marked by the head of Akatsuki, he was someone he could trust and mutual ally they both needed in the organisation full of hostilities.

"Blah! I got a better idea, let them take the Scrolls and Kages, I'm going to find myself some fun."

**x**

The little engine boat rocked against every wave of the rough sea separating the main land and the island Water Country could threw at them, but it was not the only one trumbling under pressure. The captain of the humble boat retreated to the end of the boat, manning the engine and occassionaly stealing a peak at his passagers, he was no shinobi, but he hung around them long enough to know one when he saw one. The bigger of the two eventually got tired of the captain's cowardly behaviour and walked over, his steps threatened to roll the boat over with his weight.

"You know me, don't you," Hoshigaki Kisame bowed over and inquired, towering over the man who now could only look away.

Uchiha Itachi was surprised that the captain could speak at all with all the pressure Kisame was imposing on him, but he heard the little man answering his partner's question,"Ye- yes, you're the swordsman of the mist, one of them, I mean."

"Hmm…?"

"Was there when you fought at the bay…"

"Ahh, that battle, not one of the best I have, hate to say this, but I ended up fleeing from the enemies instead," Kisame gowled.

"Can't blame you, Hoshigami-sama."

"Hoshigaki," Itachi found himself correcting the old boatman, but his murmur was drowned by the roaring of the engines.

The captain continued uninterrupted, "The Kage was strong then, you had no chance against him. We prayed for your safety, and that you might return and kill the Kage, to free his control over the country."

"I didn't know you have a fanclub."

"I didn't know I was the good guy," Kisame mused.

"Eh?" the old man pondered.

Putting a hand over the captain's head, Kisame said, "Don't worry, I'll kill the Kage this time round, you won't mind, do you?"

Knowing Kisame, it was likely that he would kill the captain sooner or later, but after their short exchange, Itachi absentmindedly wished that he would do it after he got them to shore. Itachi hated the idea of having to swim the remaining journey.

Sensing the sudden silence between the three, he looked up and saw his companion looking back behind them, who then turned to look at him with an ugly smirk. There were people in the world who were just born plain ugly, and there were those who could only get uglier just by smiling, and Kisame fitted into both groups, from the way he smiled, Itachi could only guess that his friend had something in mind.

"You know that I always have the better nose, and I've just smell the chakra of an Uchiha."

There were few of his kind now left in the world, and he could be referring to any of the two proper Uchihas, but he knew whom Kisame was talking about.

"Not sure how or why he, and his two friends are right on our tail, but tell you what, leave the Kage and his goons to me, I'll let you have the fun with Hatake Kakashi."

**x**

Jingi Kagetsu strolled into the grand hollow hall, echoes of her footsteps swept through the empty room. None of the other nine core members and their partners were in the headquarter with them, but one by one, the little minions who were not involved in any raids turned to look at her, all could sense a change in her, but could not put the finger to the exact detail. Kagetsu walked past them, until the only one in front of her was the leader of the criminal organisation.

A wordless conversation took place between the two of them, neither of them need to say anything to convey the message.

Tako apologised to his master for the death of Kagetsu.

The leader of Akatsuki silently grieved for the lost of his sister.

* * *

**- Author's Note -**

This can be considered the end of the first season. The portion about the Sound Five may be removed at any time as I have not yet to finalise their role and purpose in the whole story, I may end up omit their presense all together and pretend they don't exist at all.

**- Timeline -**

Though the official manga provided none, I have assigned a year to my story during the first conception of the story, all so to make marking events easier for me. For this story, the year Team 7 was formed was designated 1990, based on the technology I observed in the manga

**1958 Autumn** – Prophecy given by **Jingi Kagetsu** (c24); Start of **_Great Shinobi War_** (c24)  
**1958 Winter** – End of **_Great Shinobi War_** (c36)  
**1968** – **Tsunade** left Konohagakure with **Shizune** (c36); **_Fire-Lightning War_** (c36)  
**1970** – Death of **Mitarashi Anko**'s father (c36); Learnt of truth by **Orochimaru** and **Uchiha Massaki** (c36); Adoption of **Anko** (c36); **Pre-Tako**'s death (c40)  
**1974** – **Uzumaki Kimiko** moved over to Konohagakure (c42)  
**1977** – **_Uchiha Massacre_** by **Massaki** (c13); **Massaki**'s escape (c13); **Hana**'s disappearance (c49)  
**1978** – Birth of **Haruno Sakura** (c49); **_Akatsuki_** named (c49); Death of **Haruno Hana** (c12); **Orochimaru**'s defection (c36); Death of **Kimiko** (c32); Birth of **Hakkotsu** (c36); **Konohagakure Demon** attacked Konohagakure (c1); **Hizashi Arashi** died (c1) sealing **Konohagakure Demon** (c1)  
**1984** – **Yamanaka Ino** met **Uchiha Sasuke** (c7) and **Sakura** (c6); **Haku** met **Momochi Zabusa** (c16)  
**1985** – **Uchiha Ayu** died (c13) after giving **_Sharingan eye_** to **Hatake Kakashi** (c13); **Uchiha Itachi** gained **_Mangekyou Sharingan_** (c13); **_Second Uchiha Massacre_** (c7); **Itachi**'s defection (c7)  
**1986** – **Hizashi Naruto** learnt of the truth from **Yamanaka Mizuki** (c4); **Naruto** met **Sakura** (c3); **Naruto** left Konohagakure with **Jiraiya** (c2)  
**1987** – **Hakkotsu** met **Naruto** (c12)  
**1989** – **Naruto** and **Jiraiya** met **Tsunade** and **Shizune** (c12), and fought against **Orochimaru and Hakkotsu** (c12); **Naruto**'s first use of **_Kyuushuuryoku_** (c12); **_Akatsuki_** completed with the eighth and ninth members (c32)  
**1990** – Death of **Mizuki** (c5); Kidnapping of **Ino** (c6); Creation of Team 7 (c9)

**- Akatsuki Members -**

Every of the named characters who are in the Akatsuki have been introduced in one form or another, from here on, their characters would be further developed.

Numbered:  
1. **"Isaka"** – first mentioned in interlude 32, first appeared in chapter 49  
2. **Jingi Kagetsu** (meaning: treasure, bright moon) – first appeared in chapter 5 (deceased)  
3. **Orochimaru** – first appeared in chapter 12 (deceased)  
4. **Uchiha Massaki** (meaning: first) – first appeared in interlude 13  
5. **Kitahara Jiro** – first mentioned in interlude 32  
6. **Uchiha Itachi** – first appeared in interlude 7  
7. **Hoshigaki Kisame** – first mentioned in interlude 32, first appeared in chapter 49  
8. **"short dark hair"** – first mentioned in interlude 32  
9. **"****long violet hair"**– first mentioned in interlude 32

Unnumbered:  
- **Yamanaka Mizuki** – first appeared in chapter 4 (deceased)  
- **Hakkotsu** (meaning: skeleton) – first appeared in chapter 12 (deceased)  
- **Tako** (meaning: octopus) – first mentioned in chapter 23, first appeared in chapter 24  
- **Abumi Aoi** (meaning: blue) – first appeared in chapter 24 (defected)  
- **Motomiya Miyuki** – first mentioned in interlude 32, first appearaed in chapter 44  
- **Sagasu Yasurau** (meaning: looking for, to rest) – first mentioned in interlude 32  
- **"redhead"** – first mentioned in interlude 32


	50. Haruno Nobara

Previously: Sasuke lost Ino again, Naruto witnessed the death of a mother he never had, and Sakura discovered the identity of the demon inside her.

**Interlude: Haruno Nobara**  
First Draft: 5 December, 2010  
Completed on: 13 February, 2011  
Updated on:

* * *

_Thirty-two years ago…_

There was no warm on the recently snowed streets, the mood was dry and cold as the weather, and people walked down the road not acknowledging each other's presence. A war had just recently ended, but no one was celebrating, they did not lose the war, but neither did they win it. This war might not be the longest the history saw, but it was certainly the harshest; a lot of people had died, a few clans were totally wiped out, one such clan almost did. A lone survivor from that clan sat idly on the pouch, too young to join the war with his parents, too young to even take the Genin examination, but in his mind, all he could think of was to be with his parents, be by their side, the tide could have turned in their favour had they allowed him to be there in the same battlefield. It was a foolish thought, but he was only five years old.

He ignored the call from the babysitter to come back inside where it was warm, and instead looked down at the pair of katanas that the bearer of ill news returned to him an hour ago, his parents' twin katanas. To be frank, other than being elegant and identical in designs, they were a pair of remarkably normal blades, but they were still his family heirlooms, and the only identifiable artefacts the rescue team could savaged from the unrecognisable bodies. Soon, they might no longer be his to keep, in a week time, he was told, that someone would come and talk to him about being absorbed into other clans. They expected him to give up the only things he had left from his parents, they expected him to forget about the past and live on, but they were wrong, the young boy had already decided otherwise. It would be hard however, no one had ever heard of a clan leader who was not even old enough to be a Genin, he needed an endorsement, someone to vouch for his decision.

Deep in his thoughts, he missed the voice that called his name, he did not caught on to the person's presence until he squatted down beside him. He lifted his gaze, and saw that it was his neighbour, but recognised him as his hope. The two families had always been close, it would be hard to convince the older man, but he knew that it could be done.

In a week time, the Hokage accepted the Umino's head's plea to let the Haruno clan lived, on the condition that until the boy mastered the Haruno succession technique, he and his infant sister would live under the care of the Umino's.

Haruno Nobara was reinstated as Haruno's head at the age of thirteen.

**x**

_Thirteen years ago…_

The two families were no strangers, coming over for a meal was a common sight. The twenty-four years old Haruno Nobara recognised the elder Umino Ikkaku as both benefactor and mentor, the Haruno clan would not have existed without the help from the Uminos. The debt he owned for their kind deed was something he could never repay in full. However, this opinion was not shared by the Umino adults, Ikkaku expected nothing in return, only treating Nobara like a son, a younger brother to his Kujira, and even an uncle to the young Iruka. Ikkaku's only wish was for Nobara to treat him like a family, like how his sister, Haruno Hana, was like a daughter he never had, especially after his only daughter-in-law died young during the war, leaving Iruka without a mother.

Today, Haruno Nobara stomped through the Umino's hallway, fuming as usual. When he caught sight of the elder Umino, Nobara immediately hid his anger and bowed slightly in respect, but Ikkaku was used to Nobara's temper, he knew why he was here.

"Ikkaku-san."

"Lost your sister again, Nobara-kun?" asked Ikkaku. No matter how old Kujira and Nobara would be, to him, they would always be his sons, even if one of them (kindly) refused to address him as such. Before Nobara could answer, Ikkaku cut in with: "Come, let's play some rounds of chess."

Ikkaku knew Nobara never refused his requests, though he was displeased with it and would glad to see him turn him down for once, it was nevertheless an easy way for the old man to steal his attention away from his sister. Leading the younger man to another room, he sat down before an already laid out chess while the younger man went to fetch a pot of tea. Nobara had never won a chess with him before, though partly out of respect, the true reason was that unlike his own son, Nobara was not a man of patience, and would most of the time made moves without thinking, this was also one of the reasons he always asked him to play with him.

"Hmm, so she's skipping out of your lesson again?" Ikkaku asked as he started the game with his first move.

"Yes, I need to impart her all our skills, she had to finish the full course, but she's gone off somewhere with that Hizashi brat!" Nobara said with a raised voice, bringing down a chess piece harder than usual.

Ikkaku coughed slightly as he tapped on the chess piece Nobara just moved. Seeing that he had made an invalid move and somehow managed to get himself checked, Nobara apologised quickly and corrected the move.

"Hana-kun has already mastered the three moves, Shiro Gufuu, Hanabira Boufuu, and Chouryuu Shindou **(#1)**, hasn't she? Quite a remarkable feat, if you ask me."

"Yes, but she has yet to learn all the secondary skill sets, and can't beat me in a spar no matter how many penalties I allowed myself to have."

"Nobara-kun, you have already taught her everything she needed to know, some skills are meant to be leant by herself through experiences in the outside world, not in a training hall."

"But she's out there dating with that Hizashi! Don't you know about his clan, how they berserked and ended up killing themselves and their allies-"

"Nobara-kun, you are starting to talk like a rumour monger, don't believe in everything you heard from the old women you bought fish and veggies from. How old is Hana-kun again?"Ikkaku asked, though it was not like he was senile enough to forget their ages.

"Nineteen," Nobara said, recognising the usual question Ikkuka used to shut him up.

"And you?"

"Twenty-four."

"Before questioning your sister's boyfriend, get a girlfriend of your own first. When will I get to see a baby in the Haruno's? I hope not after I get my own coffin, huh?"

It always came to this, a question he could not answer, continuing on, the older man said bluntly as usual, "Nobara-kun, I understand that Hana-kun is your only remaining family, but sometimes the more you try to control things, the more it would want to escape. Rather than holding your sister on a leash, let her experience the world on her world. You have already sacrificed enough, it's time to place your own wish ahead of the priorities that you set _for_ your sister. You have done enough, all that remains is time and… a wife."

The young man remained quiet for a while, but a sad smile was slowly forming on his face, perhaps the repeated lecture of life had finally set in, perhaps he had finally learnt from the old man's experience. But, Ikkaku knew Nobara well, he was not the kind of a person to easily bow down to other's opinion and betraying his own belief.

The chess game was heading nowhere with Nobara not putting his head in it, eventually ending with a defeat, he quickly gave a reason to excuse himself. Returning home, he realised that he had not seen his sister the whole day, something was wrong, he could feel it like a chill in the spine. Haruno Hana never had the habit of bringing her katana along anywhere unless it was for a mission, but she did yesterday, Nobara knew she had no mission, and when asked, she only answered that she was meeting the Kumogakure girl, Uzumaki Kimiko. Hana returned early that day, her head was down, and said nothing as she retreated to her room. The sword was drawn, Nobara could sense it, a battle was fought, and she lost. Somehow, he knew that she was not depressed over her defeat, but something else.

Haruno Nobara found himself wandering through every room in the house, only to end up in her's, which felt strangely empty and lifeless. The katana that matched the one he always carried abandoned on the desk, approaching it, a strange thought came to him, wondering if she would return.

**Author: Read chapter 42 to learn what happened 'yesterday'.**

**x**

_Twelve years ago…_

With the unknown demon attacking their village, the security around the tomb of his sister was relaxed. The questions he had were why the tomb was not buried as he was told, why was it in this guarded room under the Hokage tower, and why was her tomb guarded in the first place; it could not be just because she was in intimate relationship with the Hokage.

He entered the room after cutting down the remaining guards, it was dimly lit and had no windows, the only thing in it was the stone coffin in the centre of the room. With a simple swing of his katana, he blew the stone slate off, exposing the coffin's content. As he expected, something was terribly wrong, there was no body in it, only the burial clothes and the katana he personally placed on top of her body. What happened? Why did no one tell him anything? Was being the only living relative not an enough reason to know the truth?

Haruno Hana disappeared from their village and became a Missing-nin, and within a year she returned, and the first person she spoke to was not her brother. In fact, he only learnt about her return after the Hokage informed him of her death, and he was there when she died, but how and to whom, the Hokage could not manage through his tears. It was a sick joke. Picking up the katana with a trembling hand, he took off his own forehead protector with the other, questioning its worth and his own purpose. Robbed of strength, he let it fell through his loose grip, in the enclosed place was supposed to be her burial chamber, the drop of the protector against the cold stone coffin echoed like a bell, stirring his heart, clearing his head with a strong reminder of what just happened. His will resolved, his bare hand closed as a tight fist.

* * *

**- Glossary -**

**#1 :: Shiro Gufuu, Hanabira Boufuu, and Chouryuu Shindou** – White Tornado, Petal Storm, Tidal Shock.

**- Names and Ages -**

Haruno:  
Sakura (daughter, 0) – cherry blossom  
Hana (mother, 20) – flower  
Nobara (uncle, 25) – rose

Umino:  
Iruka (son, 11) – dolphin  
Kujira (father, 35) – whale  
Ikkaku (grandfather, 59) – narwhal whale


End file.
